A new life
by Egyptian Dreamer
Summary: The Yugioh ended with Atem going to the afterlife. I never liked that ending so i decided to change it. Atem stays and could it be that some old enemies have returned and become their best friends? YYxY BxR MxM
1. Chapter 1

The great battle was over and the pharaoh had earned his freedom. Yugi, even though he had won the duel, fell to his knees and tears came to his eyes. Atemu was coming from the other side of the field. When he reached Yugi however, he kneeled as well in order to talk to his partner face to face.

"Yugi…" he began, making said teen flinch at not using the term of Aibou anymore, "A champion doesn't belong on his knees." "I w-was focusing so h-hard on playing the g-game, that I f-forgot… what winning t-this duel would actually m-mean." he looked up with teary eyes to stare into Atemu's crimson ones. "By defeating you, I have s-sent you away… for g-good." he said before lowering his gaze on the ground again. Atem smiled slightly as he put his hands on the teen's shoulders. "Yugi, thanks to you my spirit can finally be in peace. Fate brought the two of us together for a reason and we fulfilled our destiny." That was enough to make Yugi look up at him questioningly. "Uh?"

Atem chuckled at his confused expression. "We protected the man kind from the return of the Shadow Games." he explained softly at him and Yugi nodded in understatement before his eyes filled with tears once again. "Yes but, I'm going to miss you so much." It was tearing the former ruler apart, seeing his best friend like this, but he had no choice. He closed his eyes momentary so as not to let his own tears fall, he had to be strong for Yugi, before reopening them. "You do realize that we won't be truly apart, right? The gift of kindness you have given me and the gift of courage I have given you, will remain with us and that for ever will bind us together." Atem said and helped him to stand up.

"Right." Yugi replied as he wiped his tears away. 'Come on Yugi, get a hold of yourself. You should be happy that your best friend finally gets to be with his family and friends, but… what about me? He was both a guardian and a brother to me. Always there, caring for me, protecting me… No, stop! You should be happy, remember?' His thoughts however, were interrupted as the Sennen eye above the gate started shining.

"Hey, look!" Tristan said and pointed at the eye while Joe shouted, "What's up with that eye?!" "Now that the battle is complete, the eye of Horus that guards the door for the spirit world, has awakened and the spirit of the great Pharaoh which was trapped within the Millennium Puzzle for 5.000 years, is finally free." Ishizu explained to them before turning to said pharaoh, "The time has arrived, tell the eye of Horus your name." Atem left Yugi's side and approached the door. "I am the son of king Aknamkanon. My name is ATEM!" The eye glowed even more brightly and after a moment the door opened. Atem started going towards it until… "PHARAOH!" his friends yelled causing him to stop.

"Don't go." Tea told him while she and the other two were running towards the gate. "So, that's how it ends, uh?" Tristan inquired a bit angrily. "Nice! You think you can just show up, change everybody's lives and then just leave?!" "Joe is right. I know walking through that door means your spirit will finally be free, and it's all for the best. But it doesn't seem fair… I mean, I feel that we just getting to know you better, in fact you were just beginning to get to know yourself and now, you are being taken away from us." Tea said desperately. "Exactly. And after all these we got through for you? This is how you reward us?" continued Joe. "Yeah, and how about Yugi? After all these dangers he passed to help you, but he never said anything cause you were his best friend." Tristan added as well. "Please guys, stop! Don't make it harder than already is. If we really care about him, we have to let him go." The others were far from shocked by hearing that coming from Yugi.

However, the tri-colored haired teen knew that everything his friends had said was absolutely true, but he couldn't tell that. He had to support his friend's decision. Atem realized that and he looked over at Yugi but didn't say anything. In fact, he couldn't even move, he had frozen. He knew as well that all of them were right. At the other side of that door his family was waiting for him and his spirit could finally be where it belonged. That moment, a voice came from the direction of the eye. "My pharaoh, you have to make up your mind, the time is running out."

"That freaking eye can actually talk?!" Joe yelled as he took a few steps back. "But, what does it mean?" Yugi questioned. " The pharaoh's heart has been separated in two pieces." the eye of Ra continued, "But there is a problem. He can not decide which of the pieces to follow." Everybody gasped, even Kaiba was surprised, which wasn't an easy thing to achieve. "Atem, is it true?" Yugi asked his friend but got no answer in return.

"Atemu!" A voice echoed throughout the room, a voice that Atem would recognize everywhere. "Father?" He looked into the gate, where the voice had come from, and his eyes widened at what he saw.


	2. Introducing the family

His father's soul had appeared inside the door. "Father, you are here." he said disbelievingly. "We are all here." Aknamkanon corrected and some other familiar faces appeared next to him. Mana, Seth, Mahad, Shimon, Isis, Shada, Karim and Aknudin. "My son, the time has come for you." "Yes father I know, but…" "But you got messed up." Seth said sarcastically, earning a glare from his cousin, before Atem turned to his father again. "I'm sorry." "Don't be. We will wait for you in the afterlife, but your friends won't. You should enjoy your time with them now that you can." "We want you to be happy." Mana said truthfully to her friend. The ex-pharaoh turned his gaze to the rest of the spirits. "Come my friends, it's time for us to go." "Wait father." said Atemu, causing his father to look back at him. "There is someone that I would like you to meet. Actually, now that I think about it, there are two people. The other one though, is mainly for Seth." The said high priest raised an eyebrow at his cousin's statement, but Atemu merely smirked before turning back to look at his light side.

"Yugi, would you mind coming here for a while? You too Kaiba." Kaiba gave him a suspicious glare, but nevertheless followed Yugi where Atem was standing. "Kaiba, I want you to meet Seth, my cousin and high priest. Seth, this is a descendant of yours, Seto Kaiba." He looked over at his rival while crossing his arms. "You believe it now Kaiba? You two are identical." The CEO rolled his eyes at that, same old, same old. "Are you going to start rumbling again about that nonsense?" "Try to hear for once, just for change. First of all, the favorite monster of you both is the Blue Eyes White Dragon and, every time I dueled, with you in the present and with Seth in the past, I was always the winner." he said casually causing Yugi to laugh lightly at his boldness. "WHAT?!" both Kaiba and Seth shouted angrily. "The fact that you were slipping away at the last moment, doesn't mean it was a victory for you!" Kaiba said furious. "That's right! It was only a bout of luck!" Seth continued. That caused both of them to look at each other, eyebrows raised. "See?" Atemu said with a triumphant smirk. "Foolishness." was Kaiba's only response before he went back to his brother. Atem looked at he priest, the smirk not leaving his face. "Always the same, aren't we Seth?" His cousin grinned back at him. "Always, my pharaoh."

"Now…" Atem began with a more serious tone, "Father, this is Yugi Mutou, my light side and partner. Yugi, this is my father, king Aknamkanon." "Your father?" Yugi said with wide eyes. "It's a honor to meet you, sir," He bowed before the ex-ruler, which totally surprised the said king. "My boy, that wasn't necessary. I am not a pharaoh anymore." "Still sir, I am lower than you." Atem growled angrily at that, earning a surprised blink from his father. "However, that wasn't the only reason. I did it because you are Atemu's father as well." Aknamkanon's eyes widened slightly at the devotion in the youth's voice. "Hmm… I can see that you two are really bonded." They both nodded. "Yes, and we learnt a lot from each other. Atem taught me courage…" "…And Yugi taught me kindness and the meaning of true friendship." "And now… the same fate that brought us together… took us apart." Yugi cried out and wrapped his arms around his friend, shaking and with tears running down his cheeks. Atem hugged him back, rubbing the little one's back soothingly, and Yugi seemed to calm down a little bit. "Yugi, fate might brought the two of you together, but after that, you choose your own ways." Yugi sniffed one last time before lifting his face from Atem's shirt to look at the king questioningly, earning a light chuckle from said ex-ruler. "What I mean to say is that you fulfilled your destinies to the world but not your destinies as partners. Nobody can change that. My son, is this your final decision?" he asked Atem, although he already knew the answer. "Yes father, forgive me." "There is nothing to forgive. I know you will be happy here."

He turned to Yugi, who was still clinging to Atem with a totally lost expression on his face. "Thank you for your friendship with my son. Thanks to you, he is shining once again." "He is not the only one, your Highness." Yugi replied a bit shyly and Atemu petted him on the head affectionately. "Goodbye, my son." "Goodbye, father." "And don't forget, we will always be right there, in your heart." "You have gotten soft, Seth." Atem answered back with a smirk. "Don't get used to it, cousin." Seth told him, glaring at him to emphasize his point, earning a light laugh from Atem. "Thanks, Seth." Then they all disappeared and the eye of Ra closed the gate for the spirit world for good. "So, did you ACTUALLY choose to stay here?" Yugi asked once he pulled away from Atem's embrace to stare up to his eyes. The pharaoh chuckled. "Yes aibou, I did." Yugi smiled contently at the familiar name that his dark half used only for him and him alone, partner. "Oh, Atem! Thank you so much!" he said, his eyes full of gratitude, happiness and contentment. "You see, our friends were right, I wasn't ready to leave you." Atem continued and tears made their way down to Yugi's face. "Neither was I, Mou Hitori No Bokou." "Why do you cry, little one?" "Don't worry. These are tears of joy." "Oh Aibou, I will always be here for you, no matter what. That's a promise." Atem said warmly while wiping the remaining tears on the teen's cheeks with his thumb. "No, we will always be here for each other." Yugi corrected and they stayed like this for a couple of minutes, staring at one another and enjoying each other's presence. "Come my little light, let's go home." Atem finally broke the silence. "Hmm, home." He was going home with his dark, that moment he knew he was the happiest being on earth.

His thoughts however, were interrupted by cheerful screams and laughs. "YEAH!", "Pharaoh, you stayed!" their friends almost screamed as they ran towards the pair. "Yes. I heard all these things that you said and I realized how right you were. Oh and guys, do me a favor?" "Whatever you want, pal." "Call me Yami again, because in this life that's exactly what I am, Yugi's dark side." "But..." The pharaoh laid a finger on his hikari's lips to silence him. "No Aibou, I am very proud of it." Yugi didn't wait to hear more and hugged his other half tightly, earning a light chuckle from the taller teen, but nevertheless hugged the boy back. "Oh, such a sweet picture that I might vomit." a voice said sarcastically. "What do you want, Kaiba?" Yami growled in annoyance as he whirled around to glare at the brunet. "So, the pharaoh has finally faced his match in a duel. How do you feel now?" "Proud. Actually, it's the first time I'm glad that my opponent won." Yami stated and Yugi smiled nervously at the comment. "Wait a sec, did the rich-boy just called him pharaoh?" A smirk crept over Joe's face. "Kaiba doesn't deny Yami's ancient past anymore, not after all the recent events." Ishizu entered the little group and bowed before the former ruler. "My pharaoh, are you sure for the decision you made?" Yami's gaze met the one of his hikari momentary, eyes that held such anxiety for the answer, that he couldn't help but smile warmly down at him before looking back at Ishizu. "More than you could ever imagine." He could swear that he heard a sigh of relief coming from his double but he didn't have time to concentrate much on it due to the sudden loud noise that echoed throughout the room before the ground started shaking violently. "What's happening?" "The whole place is collapsing!" "Everybody OUT!"


	3. Going home

\\blabla\\ Yami to Hikari

\blabla\ Hikari to Yami

Immediately, they all ran to the exit and from there out in the desert. Well, not all of them. Yugi, Yami and Joe were the last ones to exit the room when Yami stopped suddenly. "Oh, no!" "Yami, come ON!" "I just reminded of something. Joe, take Yugi out of here, I am coming right back." And with that he ran back to the field.

"NO! YAMI!!!" Yugi screamed terrified. "Come on buddy, he said he's coming." Joe tried to pull Yugi out but his friend was resisting passionately as he shouted Yami's name again and again. The shaking of the ground had increased in tempo, so Joe had no choice. He picked Yugi up and tossed him over his shoulder, before storming out as fast as he could. Meanwhile, outside, their friends had started getting worried, but when they saw the scene, Joe running with Yugi on his shoulder and the last one screaming Yami's name and for Joe to let go, they knew that something was totally wrong.

"What happened?" Malik asked Joe when he approached them. "Where is the pharaoh?" Ishizu inquired. Joe placed Yugi down but didn't lighten his grip over his friend, because he was still struggling to get away. "I don't know. He said that he remembered something and went back." "What? Is he nuts?!" Tristan shouted. However, before any of them could say more, the building collapsed completely, leaving a cloud of dust behind. "YAMIIIII!!!" Yugi couldn't bare it anymore and fainted , but Joe caught him before he touched the ground. Malik and Ryu immediately rushed over at Joe and Malik, gently, took Yugi in his arms while Ryu supported the shorter teen's head and petted his hair softly. Everyone was shocked. Their gaze was moving from the collapsed building in front of them, and back to the unconscious form in Malik's arms. "Yugi, are you alright?!" His grandfather shook him but he didn't even budge. "He has fainted, Grandpa. He couldn't bare all the today's events and the fear of losing Yami again was the final strike." Joe told him. "Guys, you think Yami…" Mokuba started but didn't finish his sentence, as a loud noise was heard and a figure engulfed in shadows stepped out of the ruins.

"Yami, are you alright? Why you went back there?" Tea was the first to ask. The pharaoh was about to answer, but when he saw the person Malik was holding, his eyes widened in shock. He kneeled down and took Yugi into his lap carefully. "Could anyone tell me why my hikari is unconscious?" "Can you possibly be that stupid? I thought it was quiet obvious that he's unconscious thanks to YOU!" "Kaiba! Mind your tongue!" Yami growled angrily at him, earning a snort from the CEO. "And what do you mean thanks to me?!" "I mean that he thought you were dead." "I had just…" Yami started but he was cut off by a small whimper. "Y-Yami?" He looked down only to be met with a pair of amethyst eyes staring at him disbelievingly. Relief washed over him and he smiled warmly at his lighter half. "It's alright, Aibou. I'm here." Yugi's arms were instantly wrapped around Yami. "I-I thought… I l-lost you." Yugi managed between his sobs. "Hush, Aibou. I'm here now and I will never leave your side." Yami reassured him and after a while Yugi seemed to calm down a little bit. "Better now?" Yugi nodded at him while sniffing lightly. Yami chuckled and kissed the little one's forehead softly before helping them both to their feet. "The last moment, I remembered the Millennium Items, so I went back to retrieve them. But then, the building collapsed and I called the power of the Millennium Puzzle to protect me, after that I came out."

"So, you will take them with you, right? In safety." Malik asked him. "Not exactly." Yami closed his eyes in concentration and a black cloud of mist appeared out of nowhere. When he reopened them, the shadows were gone and in their place stood three of the Items. "Malik, I want you to take the Millennium Rod and you Ryu, to take the Millennium Ring." Before he had even finished, both items were already in their masters' hands, glowing softly at the familiar touch. The Puzzle followed their example and was already hanging in the all too familiar chain around Yami's neck. Ryu and Malik however, were staring at him dumbfounded. "But Yami, because you stayed here, won't the other spirits return as well?" "Yes, but there is no need to worry Ryu. They will come back but you forget a major detail. We defeated Zorc, the source of all evil, which means that their character will be slightly different." "What do you mean by that?" Malik asked confused.

"I mean that they won't want to destroy the world now, you will be able to handle them." "But, are you sure? I mean… they have hurt us before." "I know, Ryu. But trust me, if they do that again, I will send them to the deepest and darkest corner of the Shadow Realm myself." Both boys looked at each other before turning at Yugi who gave them a shrug of his shoulders, as in saying 'you could give it a try'. "One more thing," Yami said, snatching back their attention. "When they return, they will have their own bodies just as I have mine, which means that you won't need to share the same body anymore. Now listen carefully, when they take their forms, they will have their Items as well. When that happens, I want you to touch each of the items and you are gonna have the mind link back. Is that understood?" Ryu nodded but Malik only chuckled. "Come on Yami. Only an idiot wouldn't understand that." Yami shook his head before turning to his double. "Aibou, come here. I want you to touch the Puzzle around my neck." Yugi blinked at him questioningly but did as he said nevertheless. When he touched it, an exact imitation of the Millennium Puzzle hung around his own neck. \\ Now we have the mind link too.\\ Yugi smiled widely at that.\To be honest, I missed it.\ he said and heard Yami chuckle through the link. \\Same here little one, same here.\\

"Ok guys, all these are veeery interesting, but I have one tiny little question." Joe said quiet mockingly and everybody turned to stare at him. "How the hell are we supposed to get back home?!" All of them gasped, well, all except one. Kaiba had a huge grin on his face, causing Yami to raise a brow at him. "How about with this?" Just then, the loud sound of a helicopter's engine echoed throughout the desert. They turned to look up, just in time to see a huge black helicopter with the logo of Kaiba Corporation on it, hovering above them ready to land. They were left staring at it with wide eyes even after it landed. "Hey guys, you coming or not?" Mokuba called after them once he had gotten in. They had to shake their heads to recover from the shock before heading in. Kaiba and Yami were the last ones to enter. "Kaiba?" "Hmm?" "Keep your new attitude." The brunet smirked and got in, followed by Yami.

Please Review and tell me what you think so far^^

It's getting better however


	4. Complicated situation

Everyone settled to their seats and with a final roar of the engine, the helicopter took flight. Yami looked out of the window for one last time as they left his homeland behind. "Hm, you know…" Kaiba started with a thoughtful tone, immediately attracting everyone's attention, "Now that you will be living here, properly I mean, I believe you are going to need an identity. You know, papers that prove your existence?" he said, trying to make his point. Yugi gasped audibly at that. "I hadn't thought about that." he said and turned his gaze on the floor with a thoughtful expression on his face.

Kaiba opened his silver suitcase and pulled out his laptop. "I will print the papers through my computer." he told them and started typing away. "Hmm… identity." \\Aibou?\\ \Uh?\ \\What's the matter?\\ \Um… really, it's nothing.\ \\Mou Hitori No Ore, you know you can always tell me what is troubling you.\\ \It's just… until now we were sharing the same identity, so it feels a little, weird.\ \\Perhaps. But the fact that I have my memories back doesn't change anything between us. I will always be Yami no Yugi.\\ Yugi looked at him and smiled. "Thank you." "Ready." Kaiba handed them the papers and also gave two more copies to Ryu and Malik for their own dark sides to fill.

"Hey, how about we do it now Yami?" The pharaoh nodded at him. "Sure." They starting filling the gaps with ease, although some of them needed more thought, like the age. There, they put an age one year older than Yugi's, but once they reached the name they paused. Yami thought about it for a while and then wrote down his new name. Yugi's eyes widened when he saw what his friend had written, 'Yami Mutou'. Solomon stood from his seat to see what had caused that shocked look on his grandson's face and when he saw the name, he smiled warmly. "It is a honor for us to choose our name." "The honor is mine to be a part of your family." Solomon laughed. "You already were my boy, even when you were in spirit form." Both Yugi and Yami smiled at his statement. "Hm, I think there is only one thing that remains." Yugi pointed a single word at the paper, 'Address'. He took the pen from Yami's hand and wrote down the address of their house, then he gave the papers back to Kaiba and thanked him.

"When the other two complete their papers as well, give them to me to prepare their identities, okay?" Ryu and Malik nodded. "Mr. Kaiba we are landing on your corporation in a couple of minutes, sir." "About time. Oh, and Yugi?" "Yes, Kaiba?" "You owe me a rematch." Yugi blinked questioningly. "Me? For what?" "For the title of the King of Games." Yugi, now understanding what the blue-eyed teen was talking about, shook his head. "I'm sorry Kaiba, but if you want a duel for the title, you have to play with Yami." "What are you talking about, Aibou?" Yugi turned to face his other as he gestured towards Kaiba. "Well, he says he wants to claim the title, so he'll have to play against the true King of Games in order to do so." "Aibou, you won me to a duel, which makes _you_ the King." For once again, Yugi shook his head, this time more fiercely. "No. I dueled you only because it was necessary and I'll never do it again. After all, you are the one that was beating Kaiba, not me and you are the one who was always facing and defeating our opponents, which makes _you_ the YuGiOh."

"Perhaps, but if you won me, then you could have won them too." "Yami, for goodness sake! If you remember I have dueled you in the past too and I lost, so now it might was a bout of luck." Yugi said desperately but only managed to anger Yami further. "Yugi don't you EVER dare to doubt your skills, you hear me?!" Yami said warningly. "Gah! I can't believe why we're arguing." Yugi said and threw his arms in the air irritably.

"Because you can't…-" "Yami, please, just listen to me. You sacrificed your life to defeat Zorc and save your people, family and friends. You dueled with Pegasus, Marik, Darz and Bakura in order to save the world. Do I have to say more about why you deserve to be called King of Games?" Yami was left astonished, as were the others. "Well, when he puts it this way…" Tristan began but instantly shut his mouth at the death glare he was receiving from a certain pharaoh. "Are you finished?" Kaiba asked, his impatience quiet evident in his voice.

"Do you want to know with who you are going to duel, Kaiba?" "Yes." "Then do me a favor and shut up!" Yami snapped and turned again to Yugi. "Aibou, now _you_ listen to me. I know I did all these things, but always with your help. Don't you remember what we said in our duel?" "Hmm?" Yami let out a sigh. "Yugi, we are equals. Not only in skills but in nature too. Darkness and light can not exist without one another. We are two halves that together, they complete one whole soul. You keep telling that I'm superior, but you forget all these times that I needed your help in order to succeed. Back in my memory world, I wouldn't have beaten Zorc if you and our friends hadn't found my name. Do you understand now, little one?"

Yugi was staring at him with eyes wide to the size of plates, but after a moment he smiled widely. "You are right. We were and always will be a team and partners." Yami returned the smile all too willingly. "Now you've got it. I hope you are finally satisfied." Yugi placed a finger on his chin and pretended to think for a while. "Not quiet. I still believe you are better." "Oh, Ra! Why do I bother myself to talk when I know how stubborn you can be?" Yugi giggled and he was soon joined by Yami's rich laughter as the ancient ruler ruffled the smaller's hair affectionately.

"So Kaiba, about that rematch… To be honest, I prefer dueling for the fun of it so when it comes down to more serious matters, I think Yami would be more suitable." "With my pleasure, Aibou. I would love to teach my dear cousin a lesson about the heart of the cards." Yami said and crossed both his arms and legs with a smirk. "Give me a break you twin Game Kings. First I will duel with Yami and when I am over with him, I will show Yugi what a true duel is all about." "Oh, please. I am tired counting how many times you have said that Seth, and you have yet to win." \Mean\ Yugi commented as he gave his dark a playful glare. \\Shush.\\ Yami replied with a playful grin of his own.

"We will see about that. And don't CALL me Seth!" Kaiba yelled the last part, earning a chuckle from Yami. "Wow, wow! Wait a sec, just let me put this straight. All this time you two were arguing cause Yug wanted Yami to be the game king and Yami wanted Yug to be the game king?" When his only answer was two nods, Joe burst out laughing.

"Oh, boy! You two are hopeless." "Actually Joe, that's very normal for those two." "Right, Tea. Even when they are arguing… they are arguing for each other's sake." Tristan said and he and Tea joined Joe in laughing, as did Ryu and Malik. Yugi and Yami looked at one another and soon joined the others as well. Ishizu chuckled at the group of friends, who didn't care what tomorrow had in store for them. The only thing they cared about right now, was to enjoy the time they spent together.

Then, her gaze stopped to the pharaoh and his hikari and she smiled mentally. 'Yes, fate was totally wrong this time. It was meant to be this way.'


	5. Home at last

"Mr. Kaiba! We are here, sir." "Good. Prepare for landing." "Yes, sir." When the helicopter finally landed at the top of the Kaiba Corp, everyone headed out. They thanked the Kaibas and after they said goodbye, each one took his way home.

Solomon, Yugi and Yami arrived at the Game Shop ten minutes later and the elder one searched in his pocket for the keys. He opened the door for the shop and the three of them stepped in. "Well Yugi, why don't you take Yami upstairs to arrange the rooms? I have some errands to do but I will be back soon." Yugi looked at him questioningly about the errand thing but nodded nevertheless. "Alright, see you later then Grandpa." "Goodbye, Mr. Mutou." Solomon coughed and crossed his arms with an eyebrow raised. Yami and Yugi blinked at him but then Yami laughed lightly. "I mean, Grandpa." Solomon nodded and walked out of the shop, closing the door behind him.

"You do know that you don't have to be so formal, right?" Yugi said with a small giggle. "I know, but now that I've got my memories back he reminds me a lot of Shimon." A cute frown was placed on Yugi's cherubic face. "Um, who's Shimon?" Yami chuckled. "My advisor back in Egypt." "My grandpa was your advisor when you were Pharaoh?" If the wide eyes weren't the proof of it then his voice would surely give out his surprise. "Yes, and as you already know, Kaiba was my cousin and High Priest and Ishizu was one of the six members in my secret court, Isis." Yugi's eyes widened even more. "Ishizu?" Yami nodded.

"Does she know about this?" "I don't think so, Aibou. We will inform her, but later though." Yami told him and they both headed upstairs to the living quarters of the apartment. They entered the living room and Yami stopped to see if he remembered correctly were everything was. At the right of the door they just entered, were two big sized couches, one at each side of the walls. Two windows were at the far end of the wall and in the middle of them there was a TV. At the opposite of the door they came there was another door which led into the kitchen. On the right side there were some stairs that led upstairs to the bedrooms.

They climbed up those stairs and when they arrived to the hall, Yugi opened the door to his own bedroom. "Well, you already know my room." he said with a shrug and earned a nod from Yami. "Where am I going to stay, little one?" Yugi leaded him out to the hall and he pointed a door on the left of his room. "This was the guest room, but now it's yours." Yami opened the door and stepped in. "It's great, Aibou." Yugi smiled shyly at him. "Each of the rooms has it's own bathroom but there is an extra one on the right of my room. The door at the opposite of the bathroom is grandpa's room."

After they took a closer look at the room they went out. \\Thank you little one, for everything.\\ Yugi was surprised at first because there was no reason to use the mind link. \Yami, I'm the one who has to thank you. Thank you for staying here, although your soul belongs with your family." Yami said and winked playfully at him, knowing for sure what his gesture would cause. He laughed as a light blush spread over Yugi's cheeks. "You know how cute you look when you do that?" With that comment, the teen's blush widened even more, which resulted with Yami bursting out laughing.

Just then however, the door that led upstairs from the shop opened. Solomon returned home only to be welcomed with Yami's laughs. When the two of them saw him, they tried to calm their selves. Yami had managed to restrain his laughter , but when he followed Solomon in the kitchen, he had a grin on his face. Yugi followed after him, but his blush hadn't faded completely. "So… where did you go grandpa?" Yugi asked, trying to avoid any questions. His grandfather realized that and didn't press the subject. "I brought some food, because I didn't have time for cooking today." "Great Grandpa, I am starving." Yugi said and clapped his hands cheerfully, earning an amused blink from his dark, but he nodded too to show his agreement.

They ate their noodles in silence until Solomon spoke again. "Yugi, I also went to your school and enrolled Yami. You will be having the same classes." Yugi, who was just swallowing a bite, choked with his food and started coughing. Yami hit him gently in the back and after a while Yugi's coughing ceased to a stop. He nodded his thanks and Yami turned to Solomon. "That's great. I wanted to ask for that but I didn't know if you would agree." "Of course I agree. After all, if you stay here the only thing you will be able to do, is to help me with the Shop and that's only for a few hours, then you will get bored. And since I know your concern for Yugi, I can stop worrying so much."

"That's for sure. I won't let anyone hurt my hikari." His voice became more serious and his eye color changed to a deeper crimson to prove his point. "Um, guys… I'm still here you know?" Yugi said with an annoyed look causing his grandpa to laugh. Yami's eyes softened and returned to normal as he placed a tender kiss on his light's forehead. Yugi's mood immediately lightened up and he smiled at him. "Now, you two finish your lunch because we've got work to do." Both of them gave Solomon questioning looks. "What work grandpa?" "Well, I will go get some stuff for Yami's room while you boys will go to buy some clothes."

Yugi was about to protest, but Solomon cut him off by raising his hand. "No,Yugi. You need new clothes as well, end of conversation." Yugi closed his mouth but not before sighing. Yami sent him a mental chuckle, earning a small glare from his partner. "Well then, shopping it is." Yami said and he stood, holding out his hand for Yugi to take. Yugi shook his head and giggled a bit before he took the offered hand. Solomon laughed at their antics and he too stood up.


	6. Shopping and a bit of understanding

Once they were out they took separate ways. Solomon went to the right while Yugi and Yami went to the left. Most of the clothes they bought were mostly the same. A few leather pants and jeans, sleeveless vests and shirts. Yami also took some blouses with gold and black and one in crimson, while Yugi took some white t-shirts and one blouse in amethyst. They also found arm bracelets, wristlets and belts.

When they finally were done shopping they took the way back home. Solomon was already there when they arrived. "We're home." Yugi said and they heard his grandfather replying from upstairs. They went up and found him in Yami's room. "Wow!" They were shocked. The room was completely different than before.

There was a new bookcase from beautiful, shining, brown wood, a desk with golden ancient hieroglyphics to each side, a black leather chair in front of it, a few shelves in matching wood as the bookcase with black and golden dots on the wall above the desk and a wonderful carpet on the floor in a royal red color.

"Wow, grandpa, you brought all these now?" "Yup. It seems that you and the pharaoh spent more time in the shopping centre than you thought." "What? But we were only gone for…-" Yugi said and looked up to the watch on the wall, but Yami had already beat him to it. "Seven hours, Aibou. We were gone for seven hours." Yugi stared at him with his jaw dropped. \Really now?\ he asked disbelievingly and felt his dark's mental nod.

"Um… Oups?" he said nervously when he turned back to his grandpa, who laughed at his embarrassed expression. "Don't worry, my boy. I wanted it to be a surprise." \\Well, I can assure him about that.\\ Yugi was about to laugh at his comment but fortunately managed to turn it into a cough, earning a snicker from Yami.

Yugi gasped suddenly as a thought came to his mind. "Grandpa! Don't tell me that you carried all these by yourself! You have your back problems." "No need to panic, Yugi. I paid a few men from the shop to carry them for me and set them up." Yugi breathed a sigh of relief. Yami bent down to lay a small but caring kiss on Yugi's forehead, touched from the little one's concern for the elder. Yugi blinked at him but Yami simply shook his head.

"I don't know what to say Grandpa, it's wonderful. But you didn't have to buy all these things." "I'm glad you like it, and you don't have to worry about the new stuff. I wanted to re-decorate the room and now was the chance. After all, money is not an issue for us since the Shop is going extremely well." "Thank you." Yami said truthfully and hugged him. Solomon smiled and returned the hug. "You're welcome."

'Oh Ra, let it last and most importantly, let it be real.' Yugi thought and felt a wave of assurance and comfort through the link. \\Aibou, it is real and it will last.\\ He looked at his dark side and smiled gratefully.

"Well, time passes, it's already eight. You two do whatever you want until nine and then come down for dinner." Solomon said and was about to leave the room when Yami stopped him. "Wait, I have an idea. How about we cook the dinner? What do you think Aibou?" "Sure. Grandpa, you rest for a while and we'll call you when we're finished." Yugi said with eyes full of excitement. "Hm, I don't see why not. You will find everything you need in the fridge." "Perfect." Yugi clapped his hands and headed out, followed by Yami who had an amused expression on his face.

They had reached the stairs when the taller of the two stopped suddenly. "What?" Yugi asked his other as soon as he heard him chuckle. "Since when you believe in Ra?" Yugi shrugged. "Bad influences." he said with a meaningful grin. Yami clutched his heart in mocking hurt and pouted. "Me, bad influence? Oh Aibou, you are hurting my feelings." "Really? Perhaps I should call Tea to cheer you up a little." Yugi said with a fake thoughtful tone.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Yami inquired suspiciously. "Oh, I am sure you know exactly what it means." Yami's expression changed to a more serious one, but he had a playful grin on his face. "Ok, little one, now you are screwed." he said and took off running towards his light.

"EEEEP!" Yugi quickly climbed down the stairs, into the living room and straight into the kitchen. They were running in circles around the table but Yugi's short legs weren't too much of a help. "You…you c-can't keep chasing me. You w-will get tired eventually." He tried to sound normal but his already shaking voice betrayed his exhaustion. "Ha, ha. Aibou, it's not me the one that's getting tired, but you are right. Let's speed the things up a little, shall we?"

Something cold touched Yugi's shoulder, which made him stop. "Uh?" Then, it grabbed him by the arms and held him tightly against the nearest wall. "Hey, that's not fair. Not the shadows." Yugi whined in annoyance while trying to break free from that cold embrace. A low, rich chuckle, came from somewhere next to him. "Not so fast, Aibou." Something, or rather someone, knocked him down on the floor. Solomon, hearing the noise, came down to see what was wrong. 'What are they doing? I hope they won't blow up the kitchen.'

He was about to enter the kitchen but when he saw the scenery before him, his eyes widened. He hid beside the door, so they wouldn't see him. Yami curled on top of Yugi, holding the last one's hands pinned at his sides. "I will tell this, one last time. There is nothing more than friendship between Tea and me. Did I make myself clear?" "Ok, ok. I was just kidding. "Good." Yami said but didn't lighten his grip, nor moved from his position. "Um… could you let go now?" Yami smirked. "Why? Little Yugi can't get up on his own?

"Yeah, yeah. You are stronger, I got the point." Yami laughed and got up. He outstretched his hand for his light side. Yugi smiled and let his dark pull him up. "Yami?" "Hm?" "Why me?" The pharaoh blinked, as he turned to look at him, slightly confused. "Excuse me?" "Why did you choose me to solve the puzzle?" Yami was caught off guard by his question, but managed not to show it. He looked his hikari straight into the eyes. Those brilliant amethyst orbs were glowing with the need for assurance, he smiled at that.

"It was fate that chose it. That's why your grandpa came to my Tomb. It was destined for him to find my Puzzle and give it to you, Aibou." "But… you never wondered why it had to be me to solve it and not someone else?" Yami shook his head. "Yugi, when the Gods send you a blessing, you don't ask why it was sent. Because that's exactly what you are my light. A blessing to my infinite darkness." he paused for a moment to look at his double before he continued, "And I never wondered that, because I know that there is no one else in this world with a soul so pure and innocent as yours my Hikari."

Yugi was staring at him with wide eyes. When he looked into those crimson pools though, the only thing he saw was sincerity. He couldn't control the tears that were falling down, he wrapped his arms around his dark side, who hugged him tightly. From the kitchen door, hidden, Solomon smiled to himself while weeping his own tears. 'Well done boys, I am really proud of you both.' And then he went upstairs, careful not to make any sound.

\\Hm... Aibou, I think we are forgetting something.\\ \Really? What?\ \\Dinner.\\ was the simply reply. Yugi immediately broke the hug with a yelp. "Oh, God! Come on!" he cried and grabbed Yami's hand, pulling him along towards the fridge. He opened it quickly and started looking through the various ingredients. "So, what do you want to cook?" Yami asked while searching into the fridge too. "Something fast." was Yugi's quick answer, which made Yami chuckle at his nervousness.

"How about pasta?" Yugi turned to look at him with a huge smile on his face. "Wonderful idea, Yami! It's easy and fast." Then, he started taking out the necessary ingredients as fast as possible. About half an hour later they had made a luxurious meal with pasta, cheese and bacon. "Grandpa, dinner is ready." When Solomon joined them in the kitchen he had a big grin on his face.

"Well done boys. I see that you cleaned the mess you made as well but, I wonder, what took you so long?" Yami and Yugi looked at each other before turning quickly back to Solomon. "Couldn't decide what to cook." Yugi nodded at Yami's answer and sat down. "I see." Solomon said, trying as best as he could not to laugh out aloud, and took his place in the table too.

When the three of them were done eating, Yugi washed the dishes and Yami the table. Solomon allowed them to stay until late since it was Friday and they wouldn't have school the next day. He bid them goodnight and went to bed. After the boys finished with the cleaning they sat on the couch, watching TV and talking about Duel Monsters. When the clock above the kitchen entrance showed half past eleven, they retreated for the night. They said goodnight to each other and went to their rooms.

Yugi laid down on bed, but he already knew that he wouldn't be able to sleep. All the recent events were flashing through his mind. Their victor against Zorc and the Ceremonial Battle. Today morning he had woken with the knowledge of his separation with the pharaoh, he knew that he wouldn't see his other half ever again, but now here he was.

The night had come and his best friend was right there with him and they would never be apart. \\Aibou.\\ A baritone voice interrupted his thoughts, but he didn't mind at all. \\Aibou, go to sleep. Today was a very stressful day for both of us.\\ \I guess you are right. Goodnight, Mou Hitori No Bokou.\ \\Sweet dreams, Mou Hitori No Ore.\\

**Reviews are always welcomed ^^ **


	7. Weekend and first day at school

The weekend passed pretty quickly. On Saturday they helped Solomon with the Game Shop, which had become more crowded with the sudden appearance of the double of the famous King of Games, and Yugi offered to give Yami a closer tour of the town and show him what his favorite places were.

They informed their friends about the pharaoh's attendance at their school and they were delightful to hear it. On Sunday though, Tea called to say goodbye because she and her family were leaving hurriedly for America at noon. Her parents had found a high school there that was teaching dance as well and they needed to arrange things.

She had said how sorry she was for leaving them all but Yugi assured her it was alright and that she should provide her future. However, after she had said goodbye to both him and Yami, Yugi was devastated because all of them had gone into a lot together and especially Tea had helped him in the Duelist Kingdom to realize that this 'other side' of his wasn't evil.

With Yami's help and comforting words though, he managed to overcome it somehow. Also, Ryu and Malik called to inform them that their yamis had come back but the hikaris had to fill them with all the recent details, and they would be coming to their school too. Malik had also added that Marik's only occupation the whole weekend was eating or driving Ishizu insane with his pranks, which Malik himself had to admit that it was highly amusing.

The night soon came and after dinner Yugi and Yami went to bed early. On Monday morning, Yami was roughly awaken by the sudden beaming of sunlight straight into his eyes. He groaned and with a swift move, pulled the bed sheets over his head to prevent the strong light. "Stupid light. I hate it." Someone giggled at his irritated statement.

He felt the bed sink as someone crawled next to him. "Does that mean that you hate me as well, my other?" Yugi said with an angel like sweet voice. Yami chuckled under the sheets. "Let me rephrase it then. I hate the early morning light because it stings my eyes and that annoys me beyond self."

Yugi laughed again before letting out a squeak as Yami quickly pulled him under the covers with him. "Good morning, Aibou." Yugi gasped. In the darkness, Yami's crimson eyes were brighter than ever, so bright that it was like they had a light of their own. "Good morning, your Majesty." Yami arched a slender eyebrow at that. "Someone is in a good mood today."

Yugi wrapped his arms around Yami's neck and buried his head into his dark's chest, sighing contently. "How can I not be? Today is our first day at school together. I can finally talk to you during class and not being mistaken as an idiot for laughing on my own." Yami smiled and wrapped his arms around Yugi's frame pulling him close and nuzzling his face into the little one's hair. "I am glad we're able to spend more time with each other, besides dueling, too" Yugi giggled and nodded at him.

"Boys! You better hurry up or you're gonna be late!" Solomon shouted from downstairs making Yugi gasp. He jumped out of bed quickly, pulling Yami out of the covers too. Now that he was able to properly take a good look at Yami's form, he blinked. "Is there a particular reason for sleeping with your clothes?" "Oh, you mean that." He said and gestured his pair of jeans and dark blue t-shirt.

"It seems that we forgot to buy pyjamas, little one, and I couldn't just sleep in my boxers." Yugi slapped his forehead. "And I was certain there was something missing. Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Yami merely shrugged. "It's no big deal. We will buy them some time later." Yugi sighed but nodded nevertheless. "Okay."

"Yugi! Yami! There are only twenty minutes before school starts!" Yugi let out a yelp and ran out of Yami's room. "I'm going to take my jacket and shoes. You wear your uniform quickly." he shouted from his room, making Yami chuckle at the nervousness that was leaping through the mind link. He shouldn't prolong the teen's torture, should he? So, with one last shake of his head, he started dressing.

"You know, as a pharaoh I never had to wake up so early. So don't think this is going to be an easy task for me to do every morning." He heard Yugi laugh. "Well then, you are lucky to have me." "Aibou, I know I'm lucky to have you, you didn't need to tell me." "Yami, you aren't going back to sleep with sweet nothings." Yami cursed inwardly. "Well, I had to give it a try." Yugi sent him a mental giggle before telling him to hurry.

About five minutes later, Yami was fully clothed and ready, well ready if you ignored the fact that he was one boot short. 'Brilliant. Exactly what I needed right now.' "Yami, do you remember where we put those wristlets that we bought?" Yugi asked from his bedroom and Yami could hear the sound of various objects as they were moved from place to place in the boy's search.

"Yeah, look in the drawer of your closet." Footsteps were heard and the reaching sound of a drawer opening. "Oh, yeah, I found them. Thanks, Mou Hitori No Bokou."

"No problem." he answered back while continuing his own search. 'For Ra's sake! This is insane.'

"Aibou, did you see a boot while you were in here?" There was a small pause and he guessed that Yugi was thinking. "Oh, wait. Yeah, I think I saw something." Was the reply before the teen came into his room. "This is so annoying. I never had this kind of problems when I was transparent."

Yugi couldn't help but laugh at that. "True." he said as he crouched down to look under the bed. "Found it!" he said victoriously and pulled the remaining piece of Yami's clothing from under the bed.

Yami sighed in relief and kissed the boy's forehead gratefully. "Thank you, little one." He took the boot and wore it along with it's brother. "Oh, here." Yugi handed Yami the black wristlets he was holding and the darker half placed one of them on his wrist and put the other one on Yugi's wrist.

The tri-colored haired teen smiled kindly at him before glancing up at the clock on the wall and his panic returned with full force. "We are gonna be late!" He grabbed Yami's hand and their school bags and quickly bolted downstairs.

Once they reached the kitchen though, the sound of loud laughter made them stop. Solomon was slamming his hand on the table while laughing his heart out. "Do me a, ha-ha, favor and use, ha-ha-ha, your links next time." Solomon managed between his laughter. Yugi blushed scarlet at that while Yami chuckled nervously.

"We will grab something at school grandpa, bye." Yugi said quickly, wanting to get out of there. His grandfather was able to make a small nod with his head before bursting out laughing again. They waved goodbye at him and climbed down the stairs that led to the Game Shop and then out of the entrance.

With a quick run, they made it and reached the school gates within five minutes. Yami leaned against the gate as he took in gulps of air, Yugi leaning against Yami's chest breathing heavily. "Perfect way… to start our… first day, Aibou." Yugi could only nod as he was still trying to catch his breath.

"Hey, guys." Joe greeted them as he came to meet up with them. They both nodded at him. "What's up?" Joe asked as he saw that they were breathless. "Just… running." Yami explained. "Wow, are you trying to pass completely as twins?"

They blinked at him, confused about what their friend was talking about, before they noticed what he was looking. They hadn't observed it before, but they were dressed exactly the same.

The school uniform, black sleeveless t-shirt, one belt along with the one that contained their decks and hang over their hips, black boots, their neck belts and of course their Puzzles that shone brightly against the sun. Two identical twins.

They looked at each other and laughed. "Come on guys, let's get inside. The bell will ring in a couple of minutes." They went in but Joe had to go to his locker first, so he told them that he would see them later in class.

They nodded and headed for their own lockers. The locker on the left of Yugi's belonged to Malik while Ryu had the one on the right of Yugi's. So, Yami had taken one of the three free lockers on the opposite row. But the best part was that since there weren't any other remaining lockers, Bakura and Marik would be taking the other two lockers next to him. It had taken Yugi more than one hour at the weekend to finally manage and persuade Yami to stop cursing in every language he knew.

"Hmm, I think we should take the books for the first two hours, then we can come back and take the rest. What do you think?" Yami didn't respond, he was looking somewhere in space with a thoughtful expression on his face.

"Yami? What's wrong?" He waved a hand in front of his dark. "Uh? Sorry Aibou, did you say something?" "Yes, I asked you what's wrong." "What do you mean? I'm fine." Yugi shook his head. "I don't think so. You spaced out for a while there and I know you well enough, something is bothering you." Yami stared into Yugi's eyes and he couldn't help the smile that graced his face.

"I forgot I can't hide from you anymore." Yugi grinned. "Exactly. So, what's wrong?" The former ruler sighed. "I'm just worried about Marik and Bakura. Those two psychos will be able to control the Shadows again. I know they won't cause the old chaos, but they will still have that wonderful character." he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Yugi gave him a slight smile. "I know… But I also know that you will be there to handle them. How else do you think I keep myself from freaking out?" Yami smirked at that. "Let's make sure to keep you sane then, my light." Yugi hit him playfully in the chest. "Funny." Yami laughed, earning a pout from Yugi and together they headed to their class.

"Atem!" They turned around only to be met with a pair of sapphire eyes. "Kaiba! Don't call me like that in public." Yami growled which caused the CEO to raise an eyebrow at the reaction.

"Perhaps he doesn't like that anymore. How about 'Highness' then?" a new but yet quiet familiar voice said.

**Reviews are always welcomed ^^**


	8. Second chance and unexpected relations?

"blabla" talking

'blabla' thinking

Bakura and Marik approached them with Ryu and Malik in toe, all four had the school uniforms on, as well as their items. "Tomb Robber and Tomb Keeper. How am I not surprised?" he said crossing his arms. "What? You aren't happy to see us, Pharaoh?" Marik said with a smirk. "Yeah, because your little hikari over there seems a little bit scared." Bakura added while smirking and pointed somewhere next to Yami.

The pharaoh looked down confused and saw Yugi next to him. However, what surprised him the most was that Yugi was hiding behind his back, clutching the dark's jacket in his hand. Yami growled in anger at the frightened look on his aibou's face.

Malik and Ryu walked past their yamis but not before giving them a warning glare, and went over to their friend. "Yugi, it's alright. They won't hurt you or any of us." said Ryu to calm him. "Yeah, they have changed, a little. They aren't _so_ jerks anymore and they even regretted for the pain they caused to Ryu and me."

Yami raised an eyebrow in disbelief. 'The pain they caused to them? I know they don't care for the rest of people, but at least they regretted for the suffer they caused to their hikaris.' "But, they still have an _awful_ temper though." Malik continued.

"That's right. So you better watch out pharaoh, if you want to stay in one piece." That did it. Yami's control shattered as he called upon the Shadows and both of them were tied up against the wall by invisible ropes. "What the…?!" "As both of you can see, I still have the upper hand even when we are not dueling."

"Yami!" He turned to look at Yugi who was looking frantically at each side of the hall for any sign of students. "We are in school." Yami nodded and turned again to the other two dark sides, who were trying to get away with the help of their own Shadow Magic but with no avail.

"I will give you an advice and you better listen to me. This is your last chance, which means, don't mess it up again." "Wait… you mean you won't send us back to the Shadow Realm?" Marik asked, amusement clearly written on their faces.

There was a pause for a moment. "No." Yami answered and released them from the trammels, making them fall on the floor with a loud 'THUMP'.

"Although you deserve to be banished in the Shadow Realm where you can be punished for what you have done, I won't do that. Not now that you have finally developed a better relationship with your lights. It is pretty obvious that you have changed, so stop being such cowards and admit it."

He outstretched his hands to help them stand, a blank look upon his face. They stared at him with shocked expressions, before their eyes narrowed. Bakura slapped Yami's hand away with an angry growl and stood to his feet.

"I'm not taking any fucking orders from the likes of you!" he yelled, making Ryu and Yugi flinch at the harsh tone. "Same goes for me. You think we give a damn about your opinion?!" spat Marik as he, too, stood up.

Yami was silent for a moment, before he gave a small nod with his head. "As you wish." was his only reply and he turned around, facing his light. \\Some people can never change, Aibou.\\

Yugi shook his head. \No, I don't believe that. Everybody deserves a second chance.\ Yami didn't answer at that. "Why don't you try to make that kid more useful?" Bakura inquired as he came to stand next to Yami, Marik doing the same.

Both Yugi and Ryu blinked at him while Malik shot him a suspicious glare. "Yeah. He might be of more use as a slave." Marik suggested with a smirk. Yugi's eyes widened and his gaze automatically turned to Yami.

His dark's eyes were so intense and Yugi could clearly see what was about to come next. Reacting immediately, he reached Yami's mind and tried to calm him down as much as he could.

"BAKURA!" "MARIK! Don't you dare insult Yugi like that ever again, you heard me?!" Both yamis stared at them in shock, not expecting such outburst. "What the hell has gotten into you?" Marik yelled at his light. "You better listen to what I just said, or else…" "Or else what?"

A shadow ball came out of nowhere, hitting both Bakura and Marik directly and throwing them at least two meters away. "Damn it! What the hell was that?" Bakura shouted angrily. As to answer his question, Yami slowly came to stand above them, another shadow ball already forming in his hand.

"This is the only and last warning I will give you. Do that again and it will be the last thing you will ever do." His eyes had narrowed so much, to the point that even those two got a little frightened. "Well, I guess that this, answers to your previous question, my dear dark side." Malik said calmly and both Yugi and Ryu burst out laughing.

"I'm sorry. I wasn't a-able to keep him from d-doing that." Yugi managed to say between his giggles. "Bloody hell! Stop laughing hikaris!" Bakura yelled as he stood up. Yugi and Ryu put a hand above their mouths to restrain themselves but, with no big success. "Sorry, Kura." Ryu said once he managed to calm down. "Yeah, yeah… Whatever." Bakura stretched his uniform to get the dust off of it while Marik stood up with a pout on his face.

"Nice work, you moron. When we weren't looking. How honest of you, your Highness." "You just don't want to admit that you had let your guard down, thief. After all, the back stabbing is your specialty, not mine." was Yami's simple reply, the shadow ball in his hand fading away.

"WHAT?!" This time, the black shadow ball was formed in Bakura's hand and he got ready to fire it, Yami doing the same. "Guys, come on." Ryu said as went to stand in front of his dark. "Yeah, this isn't the way to treat your friend." added Yugi as he too came to stand in front of his own dark.

"HE IS NOT MY FRIEND!" both Bakura and Yami yelled at the same time, earning another small giggle from their lighter halves. "Ok, sure. Can we go into the class now?" Ryu suggested but neither he nor Yugi moved from their positions. Yami and Bakura glared at each other but since their lights were between them they couldn't actually continue with the fight.

With a sigh, Yami nodded. He let go of the Shadow Magic and the ball disappeared, Bakura soon followed his example. "Don't think this is over, pharaoh." Yami smirked at that. "Wouldn't dream of it, thief."

Yugi and Ryu looked at each other and shrugged. "Well, I guess that's all we can ask for now." Yugi said and Ryu nodded to show his agreement before they made their way over to Malik. "That was fun." their friend commented once they approached him. "But of course." Ryu said ironically, earning a laugh from the Egyptian.

"Well, think of it this way. It could have been a lot worse." Both Ryu and Yugi's eyes widened. "Worse than that?" Yugi asked with disbelief. "Yup. You will just have to get used to fights like this from now on." "Wonderful." they both said with fake enthusiasm. Malik laughed at their expressions and ruffled their hair in order to cheer them up a little and achieving just that.

Finding it quieter than usual, they looked around confused for any signs of their darks. They found the three of them just where they had left them, glaring at each other. The hikaris slapped their foreheads. With a wary sigh they coughed pretty loudly, effectively attracting the attention they wanted.

"Sorry to interrupt that wonderful glaring contest of yours, guys, but I think we should get going now." said Malik with an innocent look upon his face earning a roll of the eyes from Marik.

"I have to admit, this is the first day I find school so amusing." Kaiba said, joining their conversation. "So, the priest is here too?" said Bakura, only to receive an icy glare from Kaiba. "I agree with him. If everyday is gonna be like this, then it might actually be better than I thought."

Malik glared at his yami. "You are hopeless, aren't you?" Marik just gave a shrug of his shoulders. "It's not that I can help it." Malik shook his head and took Marik's arm. "Let's go." he said to the others and they made their way for the class.

They were only a few meters away from the class when Kaiba spoke suddenly. "I would almost forget… I brought something for you three." He passed to Yami, Bakura and Marik their new IDs. "Thank you, Kaiba. But how did you know that we would be here today and brought them?"

A mischievous smirk crept slowly on the CEO's face. "Let's just say that I had a feeling, Yami." The tri-colored haired dark raised an eyebrow but Kaiba didn't find it necessary to explain it farther, he simply walked into the classroom. "What a weird guy." Ryu almost choked from Bakura's comment but luckily Malik hit him gently in the back. 'Look who's talking.'

"Ok listen, we are going to our seats, you three will wait here until the teacher comes to introduce you to the students." Malik said to inform the others. "What the hell? Is that necessary?" Marik asked irritated. "Uhuh." Came the simple reply before Malik and the other two lights walked inside.

"Hey, I have an idea." Yami said all of sudden surprising the other two. "Good. Keep it for yourself." "Shut up, thief. I believe that both of you will find it quiet interesting." That made them raise an eyebrow. "Let's hear it then." Marik's voice was dripping with enthusiasm now.

-

In the classroom, Yugi, Ryu, Malik and Joe were talking about Duel Monsters when Yugi suddenly came up with an idea. "Hey, Kaiba?" Said person lifted his head from the book he was reading to look at Yugi with a bored expression. "What is it now, Yugi?" "Well… we were talking about powerful cards and I was wondering if you remember those Legendary Dragons?"

"Of course I do. Why?" "I just wanted your opinion about them, I mean, if you would like to have one of them in case we could have kept them." "They're strong, I don't deny it, but I prefer my Blue Eyes White Dragons." "That's what I said." said Joe as he joined in. "Hermos was a powerful monster but I also prefer my Red Eyes."

"Don't tell me you would change your magician for Timaeus, Yugi?" The teen frowned slightly at that. "Of course not. Timaeus helped me a lot but I would never change my Dark Magician."

"Perhaps. However, the fact still remains that my Blue Eyes is more powerful than your magician. As for Wheeler's Red Eyes… well, there's nothing more to say about him. Even Dark Magician overpowers him, which means, that he's no match for my Blue Eyes."

"WHAT?" Joe yelled furiously and started shouting at Kaiba to take that back while Kaiba shouted that there's nothing to take back. While they kept arguing, Yugi turned to Malik and Ryu. "How was that?" "Hm… It looked, promising." said Ryu after a moment of consideration.

"Yeah, he spoke to you for eight whole minutes without humiliating you." Malik added. "That, sure is an improvement." Yugi told them with a big smile on his face. "Although, it ended up arguing with Joe." "I don't think we should worry about that, Ryu. Those two always end up arguing with each other." Malik said and winked at them, causing a grin to creep over their faces.

Just then the teacher entered and everyone settled down. "Good morning, class. Before we start our lesson I would like to introduce you three new students. Come in boys." As expected, Yami, Bakura and Marik walked in. "These young boys here are from Japan but they grew up in Egypt."

When she was finished, she signaled for them to introduce themselves. "My name is Yami Mutou and I'm seventeen." "I'm Marik Ishtar, seventeen." "My name is Bakura Ryu and I'm seventeen too." Loud gasps could be heard from all over the class at the resemblance between their three classmates and the new freshmen.

"It's nice to meet you boys. I am Crystal and I will be teaching you history. Now children, is there anything you would like to ask our new students?" Half of the classroom raised their hands. A boy spoke first. "Yami, do you three have any relation with your look-alikes?"

Yami smirked and looked over at Marik and Bakura who were grinning like mad. "Of course. They are our little brothers."

**Wow! Brothers. How will their hikaris react to that and most importantly, will there be any consequences? Well, I guess you will have to read and find out. And don't forger that reviews are always welcomed. ^^ **


	9. First encounter

- - - -

Everybody was staring at them with jaws dropped and eyes wide open. However, what caused everyone to turn around were three loud 'BOOM' that came from the back of the class.

Yugi, Ryu and Malik upon hearing Yami's statement, fell from their chairs and landed heavily on the floor.

"Ouch." Bakura said but loud enough only for the other two to hear.

"Are you three alright? What happened?" the teacher asked concerned. "Um, sorry miss. We… we slipped from our chairs." Malik replied nervously and Ryu and Yugi nodded as the three of them sat properly back on their seats.

All this time, Joe was trying really hard to suppress his giggles, but he couldn't hold it anymore and he burst out laughing. "Is something wrong Mr. Wheeler?"

"Oh, don't worry. It's in his nature to laugh without specific reason." That put an immediate end at Joe's laughter and he glared at Marik instead.

"You know him, Mr. Ishtar?" Bakura snorted. "We all do." "Yes, we met him through our brothers. Also, we know Seto Kaiba," Yami said and turned to look at said person.

Kaiba, already familiar with Yami's nature, shot him a suspicious glare. Not faced in the slightest by this, Yami smirked before he continued.

"Who happens to be, Yugi's and mine, cousin." Kaiba's eyes widened. 'Shit! That good - for- nothing duelist! How dare he?!'

"We weren't aware that Yugi Mutou and Seto Kaiba were related." When Yami turned at her he had made sure to change the smirk into a soft smile.

"That's because even we, only recently found out about it, miss." "Is it true, Mr. Kaiba?" 'Oh, no! Kaiba won't cover us. We are DOOMED!' Yugi thought frantically while observing Kaiba's reactions. The CEO stood up, his sapphire eyes glaring at his rival for all it was worth.

After taking a deep breath, he managed to calm down a bit. "Um… Yes… It is true." Yugi sweat dropped. "We discovered that my father and… their, father were brothers." "Hm, very well. Now boys, do you mind if the students continue with their questions?"

"Do we have to?" Bakura asked with a tone that clearly declared his boredom. Yami had to cough twice to make his point clear. "Fine! We don't mind!" the white haired dark growled in annoyance.

A girl asked the second question. "Bakura, you are an albino, right?" Slowly, Bakura turned to look at Yami. "Tell me that I'm not actually leaving this." he whispered dangerously low.

Yami rolled his eyes while Marik snickered. "Yes, I am." Bakura finally answered and another girl was next to ask. "Marik, does any of you have a girlfriend?" "No, we don't." All the girls screamed in enthusiasm while some of them were drooling.

Malik shook his head as Ryu and Yugi sighed.

"Can we start a fan club about you guys?" "Okay, that's enough. Thank you for answering all of the questions boys. You may sit now." The teacher told them and pointed the three empty seats behind Yugi, Malik and Ryu.

"Now that I think about it, I will have to call you by your first names to specify to whom I'm referring from now on."

As the three of them sat down, their 'brothers', gave them a look that was clearly saying 'we expect an explanation'.

"So, back to our lesson. Last time in history we talked about ancient Egypt. Does anyone know if all the tombs of the famous pharaohs were discovered?"

From the entire class, Yugi was the only one to raise his hand.

"Yes, Yugi?" "Not all of them were discovered. There is only one that remains unfound, the tomb of the Nameless Pharaoh. His name has yet to be revealed but we do know that he had saved the world from the Shadow Games, and then sealed himself away, along with the secret of their return."

When he finished, everyone was staring at him. His classmates were aware of his love for history, especially the Egyptian one, but he never stopped surprising them. Even Yami had raised an eyebrow. \What? Grandpa had told me everything about you.\

"Very good, Yugi." Said boy blushed slightly at the teacher's compliment. "Ok everyone. Since last time we talked about the Nameless Pharaoh, in this lesson we are going to talk about his worst enemy."

That caught both Yami and Bakura's attention and they looked at each other briefly before turning back to the teacher. "I know we haven't done that yet, but does anyone happen to know his name?"

This time it was Ryu's turn to raise his hand. The teacher was surprised at how fast he responded, nicely surprised however.

"Ryu, yes. Do you know?" "His name was Bakura, miss. He was the best thief in whole Egypt and thus, the Nameless Pharaoh's worst enemy. He was so talented that he even gained the title of the King of Thieves."

"That's… correct. But how do you know this, Ryu?" The albino hikari swallowed nervously.

"Um, I read it in a book. It caught my attention since he had the same name with my brother." The teacher seemed pretty satisfied with his answer, so she went on with her lesson.

Bakura had never felt as proud about his light side as that moment. His fierce dark brown eyes softened for a second, along with his lineaments. Ryu turned around slightly and Bakura gave him a tiny smile, an actual smile. That made the light to smile widely, happy that he had pleased his dark.

Malik and Yugi laughed quietly at Ryu's expression. However, when Yami looked at Bakura, his attitude had returned back to normal and even a smirk was plastered on the dark's face. Bakura met Yami's gaze for a moment before he raised his hand. Yami could swear that for a brief moment he saw something challenging in his eyes.

"Yes, Bakura? Is something wrong?" "Not at all, miss. I just remembered that I had read somewhere that the Thief King had even stolen from the palace once." Yami's eyes narrowed dangerously. 'So that's what he was planning. That lowly thief!' Slowly, a smirk made its way on his face. 'He forgets however that two can play this game.'

"You're right, Bakura. Yes, he did manage to break into the palace but that was only once." Yami raised his hand too. "Yes?"

"He might invaded into the palace, but the guards noticed him right after he did so and they immediately sent word for the pharaoh and the priests."

"Even so, the thief managed to get away before the priests arrived." Bakura said defensively. "Perhaps, but in the mean time the pharaoh managed to leave some bruises on him." said Yami while crossing his arms.

"I was about to say the same thing for the so called Nameless ruler." Bakura replied, copying Yami's move.

Yami was about to answer back when Yugi's small cough caught his attention. When both of them turned their heads they saw the whole classroom staring at them dumbfounded.

"Um, all of us love ancient Egyptian history." Yami was quick to explain and Bakura nodded, along with the tree hikaris. As for Marik, he simply collapsed laughing. "Yes, I can see that." their teacher answered after a moment.

A knock on the door however, saved them from any farther questions. The principal's secretary came in and informed the teacher that the principal wished to see her. "Children, prepare the exercises two, six and eight while I'm gone."

They nodded, but when she reached the door she paused. She turned around and her sea colored eyes locked on Ushio's form. "I suggest you behave yourself this time. Am I clear?"

"Of course, miss." Ushio replied, his tone full with hatred. 'There must be something else I can do. I doubt a single warning will stop him.'

Suddenly, her eyes brightened as she came up with the perfect idea.

"Yami, could you stay responsible of the class while I will be gone?" The tri-colored haired dark blinked, surprised from the question. "Of course, miss." The teacher smiled. "Thank you. Take your books and sit in my desk so you can keep an eye on all of the students."

Yami did as she said and sat behind the big desk in the front of the classroom. After that, the teacher left assured. "She's really smart after all." Kaiba commented quietly with a small grin.

About five minutes later, Yami was getting really frustrated. 'For Ra's sake! Don't they have anything else to do?!'

He raised his head only to be met with the entire girl population staring at him. "Excuse me ladies, with all due respect, but I think it would be better if you did your exercises. The teacher might give you detention otherwise."

"How cute! He is worried about us!" one of the girls said while another one screamed, "He called us ladies!" causing all the other girls to shout in enthusiasm and excitement.

All the boys of the classroom let out a tired sigh. "No, he is just telling you nicely to stop with the staring!" Marik yelled irritated.

The girls however weren't listening. They were either chatting amongst themselves about the three, and in their opinion, gorgeous newcomers or blinking cutely at Yami who was currently rubbing his forehead.

Yugi gave his dark a sympathetic look while trying to the best of his abilities to hide his amusement.

The petit light however froze once he saw Ushio standing from his seat and making his way over to them, beside him he could feel Ryu stiff as well.

Acting out of instinct, they jumped from their seats and tried to get as far from the bully as possible, without achieving too much however since the wall was only one seat behind them.

Ushio seemed satisfied with their reaction since he smirked widely. He moved closer and closer until the boys' backs came in contact with the wall.

Ryu and Yugi were shaking with fear, memories of other similar situations coming to their minds.

In an instant, Malik was standing in front of them, hands clenched into fists. "Cut the crap out, jerk." Ushio's eyes narrowed dangerously as he glared at Malik. "You better stay out of this, brat."

Malik returned the glare with equal force. "Like hell I will."

Ushio raised his hand, ready to punch him but a kick in the leg made him curse loudly instead. "Take your big fat ass and get lost, you bastard." Joe growled, joining Malik.

"Don't you realize that without your sorry gang of lackeys you can't do much against us?" he continued as he too came to stand in front of Yugi and Ryu.

"You are going to regret those words!" Ushio hissed and moved to kick Joe who jumped out of the way, but as he did so the bully punched him in the face, sending him to the floor from the force.

"Joe!" Yugi shouted and started running towards his friend. Ushio, when he saw him getting out of Malik's protecting shield, didn't waste any time and got ready to launch an attack at him.

"Yugi, no!" both Malik and Ryu yelled.

Just when Ushio raised his fist, Malik ran as quickly as possible and grabbed Yugi, pulling him into his embrace to protect him from the bully's attack. Yugi, only now realizing what was going on, buried his face in Malik's chest who hugged him tighter.

They waited for the coming blow… which never came.

Hesitantly, Yugi peeked from under Malik's arm and the gasp that left the teen's lips was inevitable. That made Malik release the embrace in order to turn around and see what was going on.

Even he, was surprised at the sight that met him. Yami had stopped Ushio's fist by placing his own hand around it and by the bully's grimace, he was having a rather firm grip on it.

When he took a better look around though, he realized that there was more to it.

Bakura had moved and was now standing next to Ryu with a protective arm wrapped around the light's shoulders. His own dark was now next to his side and was slightly leaning forward, ready to attack if the bully was to escape Yami's hold.

"You must be really brave for trying to do something like this or really, really stupid." Yami said before cocking his head to the side. "And from what I've heard about you, the second seems more likely."

The other two darks snickered at his remark while Ushio let out a growl. He pulled his hand out of Yami's grasp and started glaring at him even though his gaze would move to Yugi from time to time.

That of course didn't go unnoticed by Yami.

His eyes changed to a darker color and he glared at Ushio who couldn't help but shiver under the death glare.

Yami took a few steps back until he was standing right in front of Yugi while Marik did the same with Malik. Bakura led Ryu to where Yugi and Malik were before taking a position similar with the one that the other two darklings had.

"Allow me to make this clear for you in case you still haven't got the point. Touch them…" Yami started and Bakura continued, "Or even threaten them again…" "And there will be a hell to pay." Marik finished.

A deadly silence fell over the whole classroom to the point that matched even the silence of a graveyard.

"You know, the atmosphere has gotten really thick all of a sudden." Ryu whispered to the other two.

"And I can ensure you that their self control has gotten really thin." Malik whispered back and pointed the black and purple clouds of mist that were starting to curl around their darks' feet.

That moment however the bell rang, signaling the end of first period and everyone bolted outside.

The only ones left were the three pairs of look-alikes and Ushio who hadn't moved from their positions, along with Kaiba who was observing them with arms crossed and Joe who was staring at Ushio with a huge grin on his face, pleased that the bully was in for some big trouble.

"We shall see about that." was Ushio's reply at their earlier statements and was accompanied by a smirk of his as he looked at Ryu and Yugi who flinched at the gaze.

With a hiss, Bakura and Yami blocked their hikaris from Ushio's sight making him look back at them, the smirk still plastered on his face.

Before the three light sides had realized it, shadows were wrapped around their waists, making sure to keep them secure.

"Hm, I'm not completely sure, but I think that they are acting a little overprotective." Yugi whispered to his friends. "Really now, what makes you say that?" Malik replied sarcastically before adding quietly, "The fact that shadows have curled around us or the fact that our yamis might as well tear Ushio apart at any time?"

"Don't have the illusion that you three can stop me. I always get what I want." All three boys gasped at the sudden explosion of rage and anger they felt trough the links.

"Then how about you take this for a starters?!" Bakura yelled furiously and punched Ushio in the stomach so hard that the bully fall to his knees, unable to breath for a moment.

Marik raised his foot and without warning kicked him in the head, throwing the bully unconscious. Joe immediately started clapping and cheering while Kaiba chuckled.

Yami made a pfft sound in his throat. "What a moron. Fainting after only two hits." Both Bakura and Marik smirked at him. "You are just jealous because you didn't get to have any fun."

"Yeah, keep dreaming about it, thief." Yami replied and turned his back to his fellow darks. As the other two kept teasing him about it, Yugi, Malik and Ryu looked at each other.

"I believe this will leave a bruise." Ryu said with a kind of uncertain tone and earned a thoughtful nod from Yugi.

"Who cares? For the first time, that bastard is going to be the one with bruises and not us." Malik said with a grin that reached his ears, causing the other two to laugh lightly.

"Man, that was awesome!" Joe said when he approached them, pumping his fist in the air. Yugi's eyes widened at the sight of the bruise that was starting to form in the corner of Joe's lips.

"Joe, your face!" he shouted worriedly making his friend blink in confusion. "What? Oh, that. Who cares? This is nothing compare to what that jerk will have in a couple of hours."

Yugi however didn't seem to be satisfied with that. "You better put some ice on it later or I will force you to."

Joe laughed at his friend's worrying display and ruffled the boy's hair playfully. "Ok, I promise, pal." Yugi smiled at him and nodded.

The bell for second period went off and the four teens looked at the other four counterparts in the class.

Yami was getting really annoyed by Marik and Bakura's teasing by now while Kaiba was clearly enjoying it by the amused expression on his face.

"We better hurry for biology before we have a repeat of their previous Shadow fight." Malik suggested and Ryu and Yugi immediately nodded their heads.

All the others had gone out of the history classroom except for the three hikaris when Yugi stopped. "What?" asked Malik. "We can't just leave Ushio like this."

Malik grinned at him. "Of course we can. Watch." he said and grabbed both his and Ryu's wrist before running out of the class and to where the others were waiting.

Yugi couldn't help but laugh at his friend, soon joined by Ryu.

- - - -

**Here is the next chapter. I was a little unsure about it at first but I hope you enjoyed it ^^ **


	10. Upcoming disaster

- - - -

\blabla\ Hikari to Yami

\\blabla\\ Yami to Hikari

"_blabla"_ Latin

- - - -

Three hours later, the school bell rang for lunch break. They went to the cafeteria and sat at a remote table in the corner, even Kaiba joined them.

"Hey, where do you think you're sitting rich-boy? Go and sit with your 'cousin'." Joe said in annoyance and pointed a seat next to Yami. "We are not cousins, and I don't take orders from a mutt like you." Kaiba replied before smirking at his new found.

"A WHAT?!" Joe yelled as he rose to his feet. Malik cursed loudly as he, Yugi and Ryu ran to Joe and held him tightly by the arms while he was struggling to get away.

"Nice nickname, Kaiba." "Yeah, it suits him."

"BAKURA!" "MARIK!" both Ryu and Malik yelled to their yamis. "What?" they asked with their most innocent tone. "Stop being so jerks!" their lights shouted in unison.

"Come here and say it again if you dare, money-bags!" Kaiba stood from his seat and approached Joe slowly. He leaned towards the blonde's ear and whispered, "Mutt."

"LET ME GO!" he yelled to the three boys who were trying their bests to hold him back. "Alright, THAT'S IT!" Yami yelled, trying to sustain as much patience he was left, but failing miserably.

"You two, STOP encouraging Kaiba." he said, pointing Bakura and Marik and then turned towards Joe. "Calm down. Don't let him get to you. And you Kaiba, come and sit next to me, now."

"Really? Tell me a reason to do so!" Kaiba argued back. "BECAUSE I SAY SO!" The tone he used made sure that no one would argue.

The boys released their grip on Joe and the four of them sat at one side of the table while on the other side sat their darks along with Kaiba. Silence fell all over them.

After five minutes of glaring at the blue eyes brunet, Joe decided to break the silence. "Does anyone want to order? I'm starving." Yugi, Ryu and Malik followed him in the line in order to help with the orders.

"So Seth, why that interest in Joe?" Yami asked in a casual tone while crossing his arms to his chest. "Don't call me like THAT, and what the hell do you mean by 'interest'?"

"Oh, you do know what he means, priest." Bakura said with a smirk. "I just like teasing him, that's all." Kaiba answered in a defensive way. "Sure, whatever you say." Marik replied with a grin.

"Look, why don't you just take care of your look-alikes and leave me alone?" "Kaiba…" \Yami?\ "Hold on…" \\What is it, Aibou?\\ \Could you take Bakura and Marik and come here for a while? We need a little help with the trays.\

\\Of course, Yugi.\\ "Come on." he said to the other two as he stood up. "Where?" asked Marik. "Yugi told me they need help with the trays."

With an irritated sigh, they got up as well and followed Yami. After a moment they came back with hands full of trays and sat on their seats, Yami also gave Kaiba his order.

The others started talking about the next hours of school, so Yami found the chance to ask Kaiba something that was bugging him.

"What did you mean before about taking care of our look-alikes?" That made Bakura and Marik to turn their attention towards him. "I meant to protect them. The incident in history, it has happened before."

That was enough to alert all three of them. "Before?" Yami asked through clenched teeth.

"It wasn't a coincidence that the teacher asked you to watch over the class, she was sure that with you there things would be different. Whenever the teachers had to leave for a while, Ushio would find the chance to pick up a fight with those three. Their friends would defend them, but there wasn't much they could do when that would continue after school."

"Kaiba, if this is a joke…" Bakura said warningly. "I never joke." "I'm going to kill him." the three dark sides hissed in unison. "Is there more?" Yami inquired.

"Well, no, except for the fact that there wasn't a single day he and his gang wouldn't hurt one of them and most of the times all three of them because they were defending each other." Kaiba said with a shrug.

Bakura waved his hand in dismissal. "Really? That's nothing." Leaning over Yami, he grabbed Kaiba's shirt before yelling, "Are you fucking mad?! Saying something like that so casually!"

Kaiba slapped his hand away with a growl. "I thought that you had already figured that out." With a growl of his own, Yami shoved Bakura off of him and glared at the albino.

"Um, Kura?" Said person turned around only to see his light side staring at him in confusion. In fact, all three hikaris had the same kind of expression, Malik had even raised an eyebrow.

"What are you doing?" Ryu continued. "He insulted the pharaoh." Bakura replied in a kind of defensive manner. Ryu blinked a couple of times. "And you reacted the way you did because Kaiba… insulted Yami." the albino light repeated in case his yami had gone insane.

"Yeah, why does it seem so strange?"

"And you said that Kaiba was mad. They're innocent for God's sake, thief, not stupid." Yami whispered at him earning a glare from the said thief.

"I didn't see you coming up with a better idea. And what the hell do you want? They fell for it." Bakura replied in the same low, but hissing tone. "I think there must be something in the school air." Ryu said to the other two.

"You were saying?" Yami inquired with a raised brow. "Probably. They were acting pretty normal at weekend, well as normal as Marik can be." Malik told them. "Hey, I heard that you know." said Marik as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Good." was Malik's simple reply earning a pout from his dark. "Yami, what's going on?" Yugi asked his own dark.

"Brilliant. That baka pharaoh can't utter a single lie to his hikari." Bakura muttered under his breath but Yami still heard him.

"Don't worry about it, Aibou. We are just discussing about something." "Oh… ok if you say so." Yugi replied and even though the other two still seemed a little unconvinced, they went on with their previous conversation while Joe simply continued rummaging his food.

"Lying isn't an option for me when it comes down to Yugi, thief." Yami said once he turned back to Bakura. The former tomb raider though just rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

It seems however that Kaiba assumed it was a good moment to comment Joe's manners around the food. Joe yelled that it was none of his business, or something like that, but the others couldn't exactly say for sure since his mouth was full of food.

That only gave an additional reason for Kaiba to call Joe a mutt again, which resulted with their previous bickering starting all over again. Yugi and Ryu tried to make Joe calm down but with no obvious success while Malik was rubbing his head to prevent the migraine that was about to come.

This time though, the three former spirits weren't paying attention. The information they had received a while ago was repeating itself over and over again in their minds, they were careful though so as not to let any of their anger slip through the mind links.

In order to distract himself, Bakura had summoned a portion of shadow magic and was swirling the thin lines of black and purple smoke around his hand while he supported his head with his upturned palm.

Yugi would sneak some awkward glances at Bakura before turning his head from side to side nervously. "Um, could you stop doing that, please?" he finally gathered his courage and asked when Bakura swirled them in the opposite direction for the tenth time in two minutes.

"Why? It's not like the others can see it. Only those who are connected with the Millennium Items can." Marik said while forming a tiny shadow ball in his hand. "But they can still sense that something is amiss."

Marik merely shrugged at his light's remark. He closed his palm and the black ball was gone in an instant. Bakura on the other hand kept going with his little occupation, earning a mental sigh from his light in return.

Yugi, after deciding that talking to Bakura was like you were talking to a deaf person, shook his head to clear away his nervousness. "So, Joe… any idea where Tristan is? I haven't seen him all day."

"Yeah, he called in the morning and said that he has some kind of food poisoning and that the doctor would go see him later on." "What?" Yugi said in disbelief before continuing, "I hope it's nothing serious. I'm gonna call him once I get home."

"Now that you said call, did Tea call ya?" Yugi's expression immediately seemed to sadden at the mention of her name. "Um… yeah, she did."

"Come on now, Yug. There's no need to be so sad." "But, after all we got through, I thought that all of us would stick together."

"Yug, listen to me. The fact that a friend goes, doesn't mean that friendship does too. You don't have to worry about being left alone, because that's not gonna happen. Especially not now that you've got yourself a brother." Joe said with a grin and Yugi couldn't help it but cheer up.

"Thanks for the reminder, Joe. Mind if you tell us why you said that you are our brothers?" Malik asked once he turned back to their darks.

"What did you expect us to say about the similarities between both the names and the appearances?" Malik opened his mouth to reply at his other but closed it after a moment since he couldn't come up with something, which earned him a smirk from Marik.

"Do you have a problem about this, guys?" "We never said that we've got a problem, Mou Hitori No Bokou." "That's right. We don't have an objection or something but at least, you could have warned us." Ryu added.

"Hikari, there wouldn't be any fun if we had told you." Bakura said, not even bothering to lift his head or to put an end in his game. "Kura, please, stop that. I'm starting to get really dizzy." With a frustrated growl, Bakura simply waved his hand for the shadows to be dismissed.

"And what do you mean by 'fun'? Was the fact that we fell from our chairs funny in your opinion?" his hikari continued.

"Well…" When their yamis seemed to think really hard for an answer, the hikaris pouted, causing everyone else to laugh.

"Hold on a second. Perhaps they don't have a problem about it, but I do. What the hell were you thinking when you said we're cousins?!" Kaiba yelled in irritation but Yami only smirked.

"Actually, I came up with that the last moment and after all, it's not completely false." "How many times do I have to tell you?! Perhaps in the PAST, not in the PRESENT!" "Of course, whatever you say."

Kaiba let out an exasperated sigh as he clenched his hands to keep himself from strangling the person sitting next to him.

"Oh, guys, I almost forgot. Ishizu told me to inform that one of these days we've got to go to the museum she works, something about talking to all six of us." "Oh, ok Malik, we will." Ryu replied and Yugi nodded to show his agreement.

"_By the way, how did she take the fact that Marik is back and will be officially staying in your house?"_ Yugi asked his friend and Malik couldn't help but chuckle at the memory of it.

"_Not very lightly to be honest, but it's not like she has a choice on the subject."_ The three of them started laughing, while Yami, Bakura and Marik were left staring at them in utter confusion.

Did their lights just talk in another language? "Excuse me, but what was that?" Yami asked his hikari. "It's Latin. Grandpa kind of forced us to learn when we were little, in case something happened and we didn't want others to listen."

"Why did I hear my name?" "Nothing to be your concern, 'big brother'." Malik said sarcastically while crossing his arms. "It was totally annoying at first since we couldn't understand a thing, but we knew that those three weren't the type to call other people names, so we just had to deal with it."

Ryu and Yugi flushed in embarrassment at Joe's comment while Malik scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

Soon enough, the bell rang and they went to continue with their classes. Three hours later, the school finally came to an end for the day.

"Hey, how about a duel to clear our heads?" Joe suggested. "Sure, but we will play in pairs." Yami said and the others nodded, well, at least most of them did. "No way. You three will pair up with your look-alikes and I will be left alone." Joe complained.

"That's not true, Joe. You can go with Kaiba." "You've got to be kidding me, Yug." "Okay, um… I know. I will go with you and Yami can go with Kaiba."

"Here is the part that I'm supposed to laugh?" Kaiba said with a raised eyebrow. "Forget about it, I'm going home. See you guys tomorrow." Joe said before waving goodbye at them and left.

"As much as I like dueling, I have a company to run." After his way of saying goodbye, Kaiba got into the already parked limo that was waiting outside the gates and left.

"Seems like it's only the six of us now." "You are very observant, thief." "Oh, shut up, pharaoh."

"Hey, I've got an idea. Why don't we go to our house for the duel and perhaps grab something to eat?" "I don't know, Aibou. Grandpa doesn't know about this."

"Oh, come on, Yami. Grandpa is pleased when we bring friends." Yami turned to look at Marik and Bakura with a raised eyebrow. "What friends?"

"Please, Mou Hitori No Bokou." Yugi said pleadingly as he looked at him with his best puppy-dog eyes look. Yami frowned before a sigh escaped his lips. "Ok, ok… And don't look at me with that gaze."

"Yeah!" Yugi and Ryu shouted at the same time making Malik laugh lightly at their enthusiasm. Yugi hugged Yami to thank him and then went with the other two in the front.

"Can't resist at that look either, uh pharaoh?" Yami turned around and glared at Marik. "Are you making fun of me?" Marik waved his hands defensively. "Not at all. After all our hikaris have already tried it on us too. How do you think they persuaded us to come at this fucking school?"

"Oh, no." Yugi exclaimed all of a sudden causing the others to stop. "I forgot my history book in the locker. Wait here, I will be back in a minute." he said and turned around to leave.

"Are you sure, Aibou? Do you want me to come with you?" "No, Yami. I can go by myself, but thanks for the interest." With that, the shorter of the two tri-colored haired teens ran off towards the school building.

"Yami?" Said person turned around at the mention of his name and saw chocolate-brown eyes staring softly at him. "You don't have to be so tense. This is the third year he has been attending this school, he can't get lost."

A small smile pulled at the corners of Yami's lips and gently, he patted Ryu's hair. "I know." 'It's not the hallways I'm worried about, it's the dangers that lie within them.'

Inside the school:

Yugi took the book he was looking for and was now heading back to the gate where the others were waiting.

'He's very protective sometimes. I'm not a baby or something, what could have possibly hap-…' He didn't even finish his thought as a fist came in contact with his stomach.

The book slipped from his hands and he fell on his knees, arms wrapped around his wounded stomach. When he looked up to his attacker, he saw no other but Ushio. 'I guess that answers my question.'

"U-Ushio, w-what do you w-want?" he asked weakly as he tried to recover from the blow, which would definitely leave a big bruise.

"I told you before shrimp, I always take what I want and your brother wouldn't be able to stop me." Yugi's eyes widened in realization. 'He's right. Yami isn't here to help me this time…and it's all my fault.'

Ushio laughed evilly at the desperate look in his eyes and hit him in the stomach again, then he started kicking everywhere he could, chest, legs, ribs…

Yugi was bleeding and had scratches and bruises all over his body, he hardly could even breath. \Y-a-m-i!\

"NOO!" Yami yelled all of a sudden and started running towards the school. The others not knowing what was happening, took off following him. "What's wrong?" Malik asked worried.

"It's Yugi! He called me through the link, but he sounded really weak!" He increased his speed and ran as fast as he could. They were shocked but kept following until they reached the backyard.

Now 'shock' would be an understatement at the scene that met them.

There was Ushio, holding Yugi pinned on the wall by the neck, legs in the air, not even touching the ground. "NOOO!" Ryu and Malik yelled which attracted Ushio's attention.

"PUT HIM DOWN, NOW!" Yami shouted furiously. "As you wish. After all I'm bored with him."

With the hand that wasn't attached to Yugi's neck, he pulled out a pocket knife. All of them instantly froze when they saw what he was holding.

Without a second thought, he stabbed Yugi at his already bruised stomach. "AAHHH!!" Yugi screamed and Ushio carelessly let him fall on the ground.

"YUGI, NO!!!" Yami along with Malik and Ryu screamed while Marik and Bakura gasped.

- - - -

**Sorry it took me long to update. Please review**


	11. Keep holding on

- - - -

\blabla\ Hikari to Yami

\\blabla\\ Yami to Hikari

'blabla' thinking

- - - -

Malik and Ryu immediately ran at Yugi's side, kneeled down and carefully held him in their arms, he was coughing and hardly even breathing.

"HOW DARE YOU!? You didn't listen to our warnings and now you will DIE!" With one swift move he had called his Shadow Magic.

Bakura and Marik had followed their lights to see in what condition Yugi was but upon hearing Yami's furious shout their heads spun around.

Yami's eyes had narrowed completely and they weren't that beautiful crimson anymore. They had turned into a cold, blood red color. "Dark Magician, come forward!"

Dark mist had surrounded around Yami's legs and a portal opened up right behind him before the purple clad magician stepped out of it and stood in front of Yami. "Mahad, send that bastard to the darkest and most faraway corner of the Shadow Realm!"

Without losing any time, Dark Magician pointed his staff at the now terrified bully and launched with Dark Magic.

"May your soul be torturing for all eternity." Yami said as Ushio let out a bloody scream before his body fell lifeless on the ground. "YAMI!" Ryu shouted.

Shaking his head to clear away his lust for vengeance, Yami ran towards the little circle the other four had formed around Yugi.

"Oh, Ra…" He froze when he saw the sight.

Yugi was being held by Ryu and Malik and he was coughing, but that wasn't the worst… he was coughing up blood.

He kneeled down and gently took Yugi in his lap. "Aibou?" His eyes went back to crimson and now were glowing with worry.

"Y-Yami?" He hardly even heard Yugi speaking. "Oh, Aibou. I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have let you go alone, it's my fault."

"N-No, it's n-not. I-It's my f-fault I'm s-so w-weak." "Don't say that. You are strong and I know it."

"I-I… a-am… s-sorry." Yugi breathed out coughing more blood but then, his eyes closed slowly and his body went limp.

The other two lights were watching in pure horror and shaking, Ryu was even crying in Malik's arms.

"Yugi?" No response. "YUGI!" Yami shouted and shook the little form in his lap, but still no reply. "I'm gonna call an ambulance." Ryu said.

"No, there is no time for that." Yami argued. "And how do you suggest…-" "Slifer the Sky Dragon, come forth!"

Just like before, a portal opened up with the exception that this one was a lot bigger. A loud growl was heard and then the huge red dragon showed up.

Yami jumped on the beast's back with Yugi cuddled safely in his arms. "Bloody hell pharaoh, are you nuts?! We can't go to the damn hospital with an Egyptian God!"

"YES, WE CAN THIEF! We might be too late by the time the ambulance arrives and even if you don't give a DAMN about Yugi's life, I DO and I refuse to let my other half slip away!"

Bakura would have shot back a reply but a dirty look from Ryu was enough to silence him. Rolling his eyes, Bakura mumbled a few Egyptian curses under his breath instead.

Malik and Ryu jumped on the beast as well, soon followed by their darks. "Slifer, fly fast. Time is running out!" was Yami's quick order and Slifer roared in response as he took off flying with incredible speed.

"Bakura, Marik, summon your Magic and cover us while we fly." The other two nodded, Bakura more reluctantly but did as Yami said and a black smoke covered the whole monster, shielding it from every human eye.

'Come on Aibou, I know you can make it, you have to.' Yami tightened his grip on his light as Slifer slowed down.

When he landed, they climbed off and the Egyptian God vanished back to the shadows from where he came.

They didn't waste any time and ran inside the hospital.

"HELP! WE NEED HELP!" Yami shouted and a couple of nurses ran to their aid. "What's wrong?" "He was stabbed in the stomach and he is bleeding constantly."

The nurses looked at the boy he had in his arms. His black blouse had turned red around the area of his stomach and his eyelids were closed.

"Please, stay here in the waiting room. We will take him straight in." Carefully, they took Yugi from Yami's arms and disappeared behind the door that led to the surgery.

With a heavy sigh, Yami collapsed on the nearest chair and the others sat next to him. Even though he had closed his eyes, a few teardrops made their way down.

"He will be alright, Yami. We made it and came in time." Ryu said in an effort to reassure him, and himself.

"What if we didn't make it, Ryu? What if we didn't come in time?" "Yami, you of all people should know that Yugi has a very strong will and that if it's not his choice, nothing can keep him away from us." Malik said resolutely.

"I failed him. I promised that I would always protect him and I failed." Bakura frowned at Yami's statement.

"What the fucking hell is wrong with you!?" he shouted finally causing Yami to open his eyes and stare at him in confusion.

"Weren't you the one that declared to me earlier that you refuse to let the shrimp slip away?! What the hell has gotten into you now? Acting so weak and vulnerable. Where's the person that wouldn't let anything get him down, or perhaps this is your real face that you were hiding all along?"

A feral growl escaped Yami's lips that caused Ryu to squeak slightly in surprise since he was the one sitting closer to him.

Yami shot up from his seat and glared at Bakura, his crimson orbs burning with fury. "Don't you dare insult Yugi ever again, you hear me!? And the next time you're gonna call me weak, you will find a hole to the place your stomach should be."

Somewhere between Yami's reply, Bakura had closed his eyes as if in boredom only to reopen them once he was over. He looked up at Yami's angered face and a mischievous smirk slowly crept over to his face.

"I see you snapped out of it. Good, because it's no fun when you're not fighting back." Bakura said as he folded his arms and turned his head away, the corners of his lips though were still pulled into the smirk.

Yami's anger started to subside slowly as Bakura's words finally started to sink in. A small smile appeared on his face, which made the others blink questionably.

"Thanks, thief." he said and Bakura snorted in response. "I'm going to call our friends and grandpa. Yugi is gonna need all the support we can provide him."

Ryu and Malik smiled and nodded at him. Once Yami was gone and out of sight, Marik sighed and leaned his head back against the wall.

"Waiting, waiting, waiting… It's gonna be a hell of a fun this afternoon." "You can always leave, you know." Malik spat angrily at him while crossing his arms.

Marik flinched slightly at the rush of emotions entangled with anger that laced through the link. "Nope, thanks."

**Seems like everyone is putting up their support for Yugi. Bakura even lent a helpful hand to Yami, but don't get too used to it. And Marik also got scolded by his light, not a usual thing to see.**** ^^ Reviews are always welcomed. **


	12. Welcome back

- - - -

\Hikari to Yami\

\\Yami to Hikari\\

- - - -

It was an hour later that back ups arrived… and at the same time.

"GUYS!" Their heads whipped around just in time to see Joe and Tristan running towards them, soon followed by the Kaiba brothers, well, Mokuba to be exact. Kaiba was taking his time.

"What took you so long?" Malik asked as he and Ryu stood up. "And most importantly, what is Tristan doing out of bed? Wasn't he supposed to have food poisoning?" was Ryu's additional question.

"That's why we were late. You see, when Yami called I thought that I should let Tristan know too, but the moron here insisted to come and whatever I said he wouldn't change his mind. So, I decided to call money-bags in order to ask if he had received a phone call from Yami but luckily Mokuba picked it up." Joe gestured to the said person and Mokuba nodded in confirmation.

"When Joe mentioned Tristan's condition, we offered to give them a ride since we were all coming to the same destination." Mokuba said with a smile.

Uncrossing his legs and arms, Yami stood from his seat as well and walked over to Tristan who was holding his stomach while trying not to grimace from the pain.

"Thank you for coming, even though it's unmistakable you should be resting right now." Tristan shook his head. "Don't be ridiculous, man. Yugi is my friend too."

Yami nodded in understanding and gestured him to sit down. "Don't worry, I'm fine." "Tristan, Yugi wouldn't want you to be in more pain, especially if he was the cause of it."

Tristan smiled lightly at that. "That little guy… always worrying for others." He nodded his thanks to Yami before taking the offered seat. "Any news about Yugi?" Joe asked and turned his head to look at Yami.

"We don't know. No one has come out of the surgery to inform us yet." Ryu answered instead and the worry was clearly visible in his voice.

Joe's brows furrowed and he patted Ryu on the back. "I'm sure he's doing just fine. You'll see, soon enough we'll have him back laughing and jumping around like he usually does."

Ryu's face brightened up and he nodded enthusiastically making Malik chuckle lightly. "And gramps?" "I couldn't reach him so I left message." This time it was Yami that answered the blonde's question.

After that, Joe and Mokuba took the two remaining empty seats while Malik and Ryu sat back down on their previous ones.

Yami proceeded to lean against the wall, a small sigh escaping his lips. Kaiba chose to take a similar position since there were no seats left while eyeing Yami a little warily.

Silence fell all over them, not that there was much to talk about after the outcome of the recent events.

- -)Ω(- -

It was now two hours later and still nobody had come out for them, which wasn't too much of a help for the restless attitude that Yami had acquired in these past hours.

He was tapping his boot impatiently and except from the annoying sound the heel made when connecting with the floor, the rest of people that were waiting were becoming quiet scared by now.

"Bloody hell, pharaoh! STOP THAT!" Bakura growled in both irritation and anger. "Stop what?" "In case you haven't noticed, you have been filling the whole room with Shadows for the past ten minutes and made a hole with your damn tapping." Marik hissed just as pissed as Bakura.

Yami blinked before turning his gaze on the floor and indeed, there was a tiny hole under the heel of his boot. With an exasperating sigh he waved his hand and the shadows returned back to him.

Just then, the door that led to the surgery opened to reveal a man dressed in blue clothes. "Are you here for Yugi Mutou?" "Yes!" Malik exclaimed as all of them stood up.

"Are you his brother?" the doctor asked pointing Yami. "Yes. How is he?" "Due to the wound in his stomach, his blood level was low but we stitched up the wound. Also, he had a great amount of bruises as well as scratches."

Joe's eyes widened, Ryu and Malik gasped while Mokuba covered his mouth with his hand to prevent his own gasp. "He will be ok though, right?" Yami asked stepping forward.

"Yes. You can be at ease. It was difficult, but we finally managed to stable him." Yami let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding as the others sighed in relief.

"Can we see him?" Ryu asked with a huge grin on his face. "Yes, but not all at the same time." "Yami, you go first, we'll see him afterwards." Joe urged him.

"Are you ok with it?" the former Egyptian ruler asked Yugi's two closest friends. "Go on. Both you and Yugi need this." Malik assured him and Ryu nodded with a smile. Yami nodded and the doctor took this as a sign to lead him to Yugi's room.

"Here it is." the man said once they reached their destination and pointed a door with the number 635 on it. Yami thanked him and the doctor took his leave. Only when the sound of footsteps got descent did he took hold of the handle and turned it.

Inside the room were two beds but only one of them was occupied. Yugi was laying on the second bed, the one closest to the window. He was still wearing the school pants but his chest was bare.

Well, bare if you ignored the fact that bandages were wrapped all over it in order to keep the wound covered and protected. Bruises could be seen in various places on his bare arms too.

Yami approached the bed and eyed Yugi's form carefully, taking in all the damage that had been done to his precious light. "Oh, Aibou. What did that scum do to you?" he whispered quietly and gently placed his palm on top of Yugi's upturned one.

As if recognizing the touch, Yugi's fingers slowly closed over Yami's hand, afraid of letting go. His eyes opened slowly to reveal unfocused, tired amethyst orbs. Once they spotted Yami's form though they instantly came back to focus.

"M-Mou Hitori No Bokou?" Yami smiled softly at him and tightened his hold on the boy's hand. "Shh, don't push yourself to talk. I'm right here, Aibou."

\What happened?\

\\Don't you remember, little one?\\

\Wait, I-I remember Ushio and he…\ A sob escaped his lips as the memory of Ushio stabbing him came back to him and his own grip tightened unconsciously.

\\Hush, Aibou. Everything's ok now, you're safe and full of health again.\\

\My belly feels a little weird here.\ Yugi said with a cute little frown on his face and placed his other hand on top of his abdomen. Yami chuckled and gently moved the teen's hand away.

\\Don't worry. It's probably the stitches. You must be careful when you move around for a while, we don't want them to come off now, do we Aibou?\\

Yugi pouted and let go of Yami's hand in order to cross both of his arms over his bandaged chest. A thought popped into his mind though and he couldn't suppress the grin that graced his features.

\But you know, the sheets are kind of itchy so I don't think I'll be able to stay still for the stitches.\ he said while fidgeting with the said sheets.

Yami, realizing what the boy's goal was, couldn't help the full hearted laughter that erupted from his throat.

\\Would it make you feel any better if you sat in my lap?\\

\Well… maybe.\

Yami shook his head with a smile on his face. Yup, his light was back to his old, joyful self again.

He helped Yugi sit up before carefully sliding behind him. He sat with his back resting against the pillow and gently pulled Yugi into his lap. Sighing contently, Yugi laid against Yami's chest, enjoying this serene feeling.

"I was so worried about you, little one." Yami said as he wrapped his arms around Yugi's form, pulling him as close as possible. "I'm sorry." Yugi whispered in shame.

"It's not your fault, Aibou. And don't you dare say that you are weak! You are the strongest person I've met." Yugi smiled lightly at that and leaned his head back, burying his face in Yami's chest.

\Thank you.\ Yami smiled and placed a soft kiss into Yugi's hair. A frown was quick to replace that smile though when he felt Yugi shiver under his arms.

"Aibou, are you cold?" Yugi nodded to show his answer and pulled his arms close to his chest as he literary buried himself into Yami's embrace, trying to get as warmer as possible.

Unwrapping his arms from the boy's frame, Yami took off the jacket of the school's uniform and held it out for Yugi to wear. "You sure?" The dark one nodded assuredly and helped him put his arms through the sleeves.

The jacket, already warm from Yami's body heat, was quick to provide Yugi with the warmth he was looking for.

"Better?" Yami asked once the shivers came to a stop. \Much.\ Yugi said and Yami chuckled at his relieved expression. "Good."

Yami's warm embrace and the jacket's additional warmth was more than enough to lull Yugi into sleep, which was exactly why his eyelids had started to travel down.

\\Little one?\\ His eyelids fluttered back open as a yawn escaped his lips. \Yeah?\ "Before you rest, wouldn't you like to see your friends? I'm sure they would be relieved to see you're ok."

"They are here?" he exclaimed enthusiastically as he bolted up from his laying position only to fall back down against Yami's chest with a hiss of pain.

"Easy, Aibou. Didn't I tell you not to make any sudden movements?" Yami scolded him. "No, you said to be careful when I move around." Yugi shot back with a grin. "Funny." Yami said and poked him on the nose earning a small whine in return.

"Wait here, I'll go bring them in." Without warning, he stood up from the bed making Yugi flop back against the pillow with a squeak. Yami could only laugh at the face his light was making.

"You are very mean, you know that?" Yami pretended to pout at that. "Oh, now I'm hurt." "Just go and get them!" Yugi yelled, grabbing the pillow he had fallen onto and tossed it across the room towards Yami's direction but his dark managed to get out of the room in time, causing the pillow to slam against the closed door, his baritone laughter echoing down the hallway.

"Pft, baka." Yugi huffed but a giggle passed through his lips that soon developed into full laughter.

- - - -

**Yay! Yugi is out of danger and the gang can be reunited**** again. *giggles* Please review so I can know if you like how the story is proceeding. **


	13. Trouble again

**I'm sorry for the long delay.**

**Finals came up and I had to study.**

**Well, here is the next chapter and don't forget that reviews are always helpful.**

"blabla" normal talking

'blabla' thinking

\blabla\ Hikari to Yami

\\blabla\\ Yami to Hikari

A couple of minutes later Yami was back in the room with everyone else in toe, except from Joe.

"Yugi!" Malik and Ryu cried out in unison before hurrying over to their friend, hugging him as gently as they could with their enthusiasm, a hug which he happily returned.

"Are you alright?" Malik asked and raised Yugi's arm to inspect him better before muttering an apology at the wince of pain that came from the boy.

"Well, I've seen better days, but I'm okay." Yugi replied with a sheepish smile.

"Compared to what we've been through, you can't say that this is an actual improvement, pal."

Yugi's head snapped in the direction of the voice, his eyes wide with disbelief. "Tristan?"

Said person blinked puzzled. "Um, yeah?"

In an instant, Yugi had leapt to his feet but the sudden wave of pain that shot through his body made him lose his balance and he had to bite his lip so as not to cry out in pain.

Yami was immediately by Yugi's side, catching him in time before he hit the ground.

"Aibou, this time I'm serious. Stay in bed or I will have to tie you there myself!" Yugi flinched at his tone but allowed Yami to put him back in bed.

Not that he had a choice in the matter.

With a defeated sigh he settled with staying in bed in a sitting position. Yami gave him a warning look before he took the pillow that the boy had thrown at him and placed it on the bed for Yugi to use it.

Trying to dismiss the glare Yami was giving him for not making any moves to lie down, Yugi turned his attention back to Tristan.

"What are you doing here? You should be in bed. Resting."

"You didn't actually expect me to stay at home while you were here in this condition, did you?" Tristan gestured towards the bandages that covered the boy's chest and stomach to get his point across.

Yugi shook his head. "Yes, but I'm fine now while you aren't."

Tristan couldn't suppress the laughter that came over him, which made Yugi and everyone in the room to stare at him in question.

"You may be fine now pal, but I don't think that the mummy style is actually your type."

Yugi simply stared at him before suddenly he burst out laughing. Malik, Ryu and Mokuba soon joined him.

"It's not hard to believe that. After all, the mummy style is the pharaoh's exclusivity." Bakura commented with a smirk.

"Tomb robber!" Yami hissed warningly. "I'm just pointing out the obvious." the albino said with a casual shrug of his shoulders which earned him a glare from Yami.

Once his laughter died down, Yugi waited a couple of seconds to get his breath back before speaking again.

"You were worried about me, now it's my turn to worry about you Tristan."

A sigh escaped Tristan's lips and he rubbed his forehead. "Sometimes Yugi, I can't understand your way of thinking."

A wide smile spread over Yugi's face. "Don't worry. You will get used to it. Ryu and Malik have."

"Don't be so sure." Malik whispered to Ryu, causing him to giggle quietly. "I heard that." Yugi glared at Malik lightly who held up his hands defensively.

"Don't worry, Tristan. We'll give you a ride back home."

"Thanks, Mokuba." Tristan replied with a grateful smile. "Nah, it's no big deal."

Tristan went over to Yugi's bed and ruffled the teen's hair a little. "Get well soon, ok pal?" Yugi smiled at him. "I promise. I will come visit you as soon as I can."

"I will hold you to that." Tristan said and bid everyone goodbye before turning around to leave.

"The limo is waiting at the entrance." Mokuba informed him. Tristan nodded and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.

"Mokuba?" "Yes, Seto?"

"Thanks for asking." The boy pouted at the blue-eyed teen.

"Oh come on, big brother. He is injured. And after all, we brought him here so we had to take him back."

Kaiba rolled his eyes at his brother's excuse. "Whatever."

With a shake of his head, Malik went to sit next to Yugi on the bed, Ryu following his example. The Egyptian smiled softly at the spiky haired teen.

"You don't know how happy and thankful we are to have you back." Yugi blinked and then blinked again.

A warm smile soon graced his face. He reached out and grasped their hands with his. "You can't get rid of me that easily you know."

Malik chuckled and tightened his hold around Yugi's hand. "Indeed." Something wet fell on Yugi's hand, causing him to frown lightly.

He looked at his right, were Ryu was sitting, and his frown deepened. His albino friend had his head lowered to the point that his white bangs were covering his eyes.

"Ryu?" Yugi said gently. Said person sniffed before raising his head. Despite the wet trails on his cheeks, Ryu gave him a small smile. "I'm fine."

Letting go of his hand, Yugi used his finger to wipe out the tears on Ryu's cheeks and those on his eyelashes. "Then what are the tears for?"

Ryu shook his head. "It's just that… we were so worried about you. Only the thought that you might have…"

Moving as cautiously as he could with his wound, Yugi wrapped his arms around Ryu's form. "I know. I would have felt the same way if something ever happened to you or Malik."

Ryu half laughed – half sobbed as he hugged Yugi back. A chuckle that came from somewhere next to them, made them break the embrace to look at Malik.

Their friend wiped his eyes before reaching out and ruffling their hair, earning a whine from both teens. "You are idiots, you know that?"

Ryu and Yugi were about to answer but the ringing of a phone interrupted them. Kaiba sighed in relief as he searched into his pockets for the object.

"Perfect timing. Just when I thought I was about to vomit." was the only thing the CEO said before heading out of the room. Malik's eyes narrowed. "Was your brother always such an ass?" he asked, turning his head to look at Mokuba.

Mokuba crossed his arms over to his chest as he glared at Malik. "Don't tell me you actually expect an answer."

"Yeah, like we don't already know the answer." Marik scoffed earning a chuckle from Bakura.

Yami brought a hand down his face, not believing what he was listening. "I can't believe that Bakura and Marik just called someone other than themselves an ass."

"Shut the hell up!" both darks shouted.

Yugi, Ryu and Malik shook their heads. "Do you ever stop arguing?"

The three darklings looked at each other briefly before turning back to their hikaris. "No." they said together.

The three lights smacked their foreheads.

The door opened that moment and Kaiba came back in. "Mokuba, we're leaving." "Anything wrong?" Yami asked.

"Problems with the company."

"Goodbye, Yugi. We'll come back later to see how you're doing." said Mokuba and then surprised the other by wrapping his arms around him in a warm hug before withdrawing.

Yugi offered him a heart warming smile.

"Bye guys." "Goodbye, Mokuba." Yami, Malik and Ryu replied. Marik and Bakura didn't feel like answering.

Mokuba waved at them and then followed his brother out of the room.

"Oh, I almost forgot. Joe is here too Yugi, but he went to call grandpa." Ryu informed him and Yugi nodded his thanks at him.

"I have a question." Yami said and looked at the three light sides. "Is everyday in your school like that?"

The three boys burst out laughing, and even Bakura and Marik grinned. For once again, the door of the room shot open and a nurse came in with a tray in her hands.

She smiled at the sound of laughter that met her. "It's good to see that our patient is feeling better."

Yugi smiled at her. "Yes, I'm feeling much better, thank you."

"But in order for you to get even better, we need to get some food in your tummy." she said and gave him the tray with food she was holding.

Yugi grimaced at the contents of the tray he was given. "Please, can't I have a hamburger?"

The woman smile apologetically at him. "I'm afraid this isn't possible. Your stomach was stabbed, it can't afford any kind of food just yet. For now, you'll have to settle with the soup."

The teen looked pleadingly at his dark, but Yami shook his head, showing him that whether he liked it or not, he was going to eat the disgusting thing.

"I can help you swallowing that if you want." Bakura said and pointed the soup with his finger.

Yugi gulped. "Um… thanks for the tempting offer Bakura, but I think I will manage." Not wanting to give Bakura the chance to suggest anything similar, he took the ball in his hands before swallowing the first spoonful.

"Let me know when you're finished and I'll come take the tray. The security guards are here also, but I told them to wait until you eat something."

Yugi, who had just swallowed another spoonful, choked with his soup and a coughing ft took over him. Ryu and Malik's eyes widened while their darks had frozen.

The nurse hurried over to Yugi and hit him in the back until he coughing ceased to a stop.

"W-who are here?"

**Oops, someone is in trouble.**

**How will they explain to the security Yugi's wound and most importantly what will they do when they ask them who was the attacker or where is he now? **

**Read to find out.**


	14. Solving the problems

**Another chapter is up folks!**

**I hope you enjoy it.**

"Each time they bring in a patient who was shot or stabbed, the protocol mentions that we are to inform the security." the nurse explained to them

Even if they didn't share a link, Yami would still be able to feel the dread that was radiating off of Yugi. Ryu and Malik were in a similar state with his light. They had to do something and they had to do it quickly, otherwise they were all in great trouble.

"Thank you for informing us. You can tell them to come in any time they want." The nurse nodded at him and after telling Yugi to eat all his food if he wanted to recover, she left. "Yami," Yugi started in a low voice, "Ushio… what did you do with him?" Yami didn't answer. Instead he started pacing around the room, a thoughtful look upon his face.

His silence was enough to make Yugi's suspicions prove correct. "That's what I thought." he said and buried his face in his hands. "What are we gonna do now?" Malik asked without expecting to get an answer.

"The evidence…" Yami said while continuing with his pacing. "What about it?" Marik asked. "We need to wipe it off." His pacing stopped sharply all of a sudden and he turned around to stare at Marik and Bakura. "One of you has to go and get rid of the body." (by using magic to dispose it, not something disgusting like tearing it apart)

Yugi's head snapped up at his dark's statement. "Do what?" he exclaimed. "We'll explain later." Ryu whispered to him. Yugi started to protest but was cut off by Bakura.

"Why don't you go do it yourself? Or perhaps it is way too damn tiring for your royal ass to handle?" "For once in your life thief, use that little amount of your brain that is still functioning and think! I told the doctors that I'm Yugi's brother. It will seem suspicious if I leave him on his own and leave."

Bakura tsked. "Yeah, right. Whatever you say." Yami growled low in his throat. That lousy thief was purposely testing his patience! Gritting his teeth, Yami turned his head towards Marik with a raised eyebrow, but the other merely shook his head. "Forget it. I wanna hear what you're gonna say to them."

Groaning in annoyance, Yami closed his eyes in an attempt to retain his temper. Once his irritation subsided a little, he reopened them and glared at those two morons in front of him.

"Obviously, you don't grasp the seriousness of our situation. If they find a soulless body laying on the back yard of our school, what the hell do you think is going to happen? They will ask questions about what happened to him, that's what's going to happen!"

If it was an ordinary human they would already be trembling and their knees would have gave out by now, but when you're dealing with another dark, things are a little more complicated than that. They did acknowledge his words, but not the fact that he was yelling. However, they had to admit, their situation was a little bit serious.

Bakura chuckled. "You are such a needy king." Before Yami had time to answer back at his comment, Bakura went into the bathroom, closing the door behind him as well. "Now isn't the time to relieve yourself, you idiot." Marik yelled and before Yami had time to stop him, he had already blasted down the door with one of his shadow balls, letting it fall to the ground with a loud 'thud'.

"What the-?" The room was completely empty! Yami cursed in Egyptian and whacked Marik in the back of his head, earning a snarl from the other. "You baka! Fix that door before the guards come in." "But Bakura…-" Yami heaved a sigh. "Bakura took a shortcut." (1)

At Yami's casual statement, the three lights looked at each other and blinked. Marik on the other hand, understanding fully the meaning of Yami's words, smirked. Raising his hand, he pointed towards the door and within a second, shadows had leaped towards it, bringing it and binding it back into place in a blink of the eye.

Nodding at Marik, Yami went over to Yugi and after asking him mentally if he could borrow the tray, he took the object from the boy's hands and let it fall to the floor, spilling the half eaten soup all around. Ryu and Malik jumped a few meters above the bed while Yugi yelped in surprise. As if on cue, the room's door burst open and five security guards stormed in.

"Is everything alright? We heard a fuss in here." Yami smiled kindly at them. "Thank you for your concern, but all is well. I wanted to place my brother's tray with food on the nightstand but I'm afraid it slipped from my hand."

\Nice thinking, Mou Hitori No Bokou. And thanks.\

\\For what?\\

\I really didn't want to eat that.\

Yami chuckled mentally before refocusing his attention to the guards. "We're sorry for the disturbance. We just need to ask a few questions." Yami shook his head. "You may do as you please. It's your job after all." Malik looked sideways at Yugi who shrugged. "Could you tell us what happened? How did your brother get stabbed?"

"A guy from our class named Ushio, stabbed him. When we saw him pulling the knife, it was already too late. We tried to chase after him but he fled away. After that we didn't pursue him because my brother needed immediate medical treatment." One of the guards nodded in understanding. "Thank you for your help and we wish a quick recovery to your brother."

"Thank you very much. However, I have a favor to ask. With all due respect, but I would like you to stay out of this matter. The police has already been informed, any more attention on the subject will definitely cause trouble to my brother once he returns to school. I don't want him to stress himself any further, and if he gets bombarded by questions, that's exactly what is going to happen."

The guards just stared at him at first before nodding. "Um… Sure. If the police is aware about this, then there is nothing more we could do." One of them said and the others agreed with him. The guards bid them farewell then and exited the room, leaving them on their own.

Once the door was closed, Marik burst out laughing. "That w-was one h-hell of a p-performance, pharaoh." he managed to say somewhere between his laughing. "Um, Yami?" Malik and Ryu moved over to the end of the bed so as to give Yami room to sit next to their friend.

"Yes, Aibou?" he asked as he wrapped his arm around Yugi's shoulders. "Did you call the police?" Yami laughed quietly at that. "No, but they don't know that." he said and poked the boy on the nose, just like he had done before, an action that earned a whine from the little light and a smile from the other two lights.

With a slight 'crack', the bathroom door opened and Bakura walked out, like we was inside there all this time. Seeing Marik weeping off his tears, the albino raised an eyebrow. "What did I miss?" Ryu stood from the bed and embraced his dark, completely catching the other off guard and making him blink. Ryu had never hugged him before. Never.

Soon though, Ryu broke the embrace so he could stare at him. "Oh Kura, you should have seen it. Yami managed not only to get rid of the guards but to persuade them not to call the police too." That caused a growl to emit from Bakura's throat and he turned his head to glare at Yami.

"Then why the hell did you send me to get rid of the body if you had everything sorted?" Yami rolled his eyes. "What you did, thief, was necessary and useful. We couldn't leave the body there for everyone to see tomorrow morning." Not satisfied by the answer, Bakura just glared some more at him.

Ryu sighed, those two would never change. A feral growl escaped Marik's lips when the door shot open once again. "Will this fucking room ever get some peace?" This time, Joe came running in with the doctor in toe. "Yug! Yug, you alright ,pal?" Joe exclaimed and wrapped him in a tight, warm embrace. Yugi winced a little but smiled nevertheless, happy to see his friend again. "It's good to see you, Joe. As for the alright part, at least I'm getting better." Joe laughed and ruffled the boy's hair. "That's the spirit."

"Sir, please. I told you it's already too crowded in here. I have to ask all of you to wait outside for a while, the patient needs rest." "Oh no, please doctor. I'm not that tired, and I really want my friends to be here." The doctor seemed to think about it for a moment, but the pleading look on Yugi's face left him no choice. "Very well then, but later I will have to change your bandages. Oh, and I will send someone to clean this mess." he said and pointed the dropped bowl on the floor. "Yes, thank you, sir."

The doctor nodded and with that went out. "Couldn't we just tell him that we would clean it up on our own?" Bakura folded his arms over his chest and raised an eyebrow at Marik's direction. "And who's going to clean it? You? Oh please, don't make me laugh." Marik's eyes narrowed and he smacked Bakura in the shoulder, earning a hiss from the other. "Not me, you idiot. My shadows will. After all, the shadows are always hungry."

Bakura brought a hand down his face. "I think you overlooked a slightly, little detail. IT'S NOT HUMAN FOOD THEY ARE AFTER!" Ryu flinched at his dark's yelling and covered his ears in case Malik's dark decided to answer in a similar way. "Are you always such a smart-ass?" Bakura smirked at Marik's quire. "If I'm a smart ass, then you're only an ass."

That caused a feral growl to emit from Marik's throat, his eyes glaring at Bakura for all it was worth. Bakura returned the death glare with double force, his dark aura flaring out wildly. Marik followed soon after, his back shadows curling around his feet, ready to act upon their master's command.

Yami stood from the bed with a swift move and was in an instant was standing between the blood-thirsty darks. "Knock it off, both of you! We're inside a hospital, which means, NO FIGHTING! And giving the shadows the food they desire is out of the question!" he finished, sending a warning glare to them both. Marik greeted his teeth, while Bakura let out a low hiss.

They glared at each other for a couple of seconds, and with a sigh, both of them withdrew their shadow magic. Yami's shoulders relaxed slightly and he let out a sigh of his own, his hand coming to rest on his forehead. "Honestly, I never thought that by letting you stay in this world I would have to babysit you all the time."

"What was that?" Bakura asked, averting his glare over to the pharaoh instead, Marik doing the same with his narrowed gaze. "Kura, you certainly need to learn to be more sarcastic." Ryu said with a sake of his head, earning a giggle from Yugi. "That's absolute. Our yamis are completely humorless." Malik added at Ryu's comment, before all three of them burst out laughing, Joe not far behind.

Totally caught off guard by the hikaris' unexpected remarks, the yamis were left staring at them in astonishment. "I'm not humorless!" Marik and Bakura yelled at the same time and turned to look at each other. "I said it first!" they both shouted, their eyes soon narrowing in annoyance. "STOP SAYING WHAT I'M SAYING!" they said, again with perfect timing.

Needless to say that, by now, the three lights along with Joe were laughing hysterically, Yami himself had joined as well, unable to restrain his laughter any longer. Out of the blue, Yugi's laughter ceased to a stop and his joyful expression was replaced by a grimace of pain. Of course, that didn't go unnoticed by Yami.

"Aibou? Aibou, what's wrong?" The others' laughter came to a stop soon after Yami's exclamation. They turned their attention towards Yugi who was hugging his stomach with both hands, a painful expression upon his face. "Aibou?"

\Yami… H-hurts…\

\\Where?\\

\S-stomach…\

In an instant, Yami had gone over to the bed and gently, pushed Yugi back onto the pillow so he was lying on his back. He guided the boy's hands away from his stomach and opened up the jacket he had given Yugi in order to keep him warm. When he did so though, he was met with crimson-red stained bandages.

"Curses! The stitches have re-opened." "I'm going to get the doctor." Joe exclaimed and ran for the door. "No, wait." Joe whipped around to stare at Yami. "What're you talking about? He's bleeding!" "I know, Joe." Yami kneeled in front of the bed and raised Yugi's chin gently with his finger. "I don't want you to suffer anymore, Aibou. Please, allow me to help you." Yugi nodded and bit his lip in order to prevent himself from screaming out aloud.

"It's about time I take matters into my own hands." he said and stood back to his feet. "Aibou, this might hurt a little since you're not accustomed with dark magic, but I promise it'll get better." "I t-trust you." Yugi managed to say. Malik stood from the bed and went to stand next to Ryu and their darks in order to leave room to Yami to do what he was planning to do.

Yami closed his eyes in concentration before placing both his hands on top of Yugi's wound, letting them hover on top of it without touching it. The Puzzle around his neck started glowing. Soon, a golden millennium eye appeared on his forehead and a black mist swirled around his legs, while shadows curled around his hands.

The bandages that covered the boy's torso as well as his wound snapped, as if they were made out of paper, leaving his chest bare and his bleeding wound now free. Yami reopened his eyes and the shadows that covered his hands reached out and spread all over the wound, lapping at the blood and removing the stitches one by one, causing a yell to be ripped from Yugi's lips, and Ryu with Malik to flinch.

Yami coaxed Yugi through the link they shared, trying his best to sooth the boy's suffer. Afterwards, Yami proceeded to chat something in a queer language making Yugi's wound glow with a golden color.

"What's Yami doing?" Ryu whispered perplexed to Malik. "Well, apparently, he's casting a spell. I didn't know he could do that though, nor what he's saying." Marik flashed a smirk to his light side. "That's ancient Egyptian, hikari." Before Malik had time to answer, Ryu beat him to it. "Well, I don't care what he's saying. I just hope it'll help Yugi."

Malik moved his gaze over to their little friend. Yugi had tightened his grip on the bed sheets and his eyes were closed from the pain. Both he and Ryu went to the right side of the bed and held onto Yugi's hand, who in return opened his eyes and smiled weakly at them.

\Yami, it b-burns m-me.\

\\Shh, I know, Aibou. Hold on, I'm almost finished.\\

Just as Yami said, a second later the chatting stopped, as did the glowing. Yugi couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief, obviously exhausted from the whole thing. Yami kneeled next to him and brushed his thumb against Yugi's forehead reassuringly. "Does the wound still hurt?"

Yugi tried to move into a sitting position again and blinked when he found no resistance from his stomach by doing so. Not believing what he was feeling, he placed his hand on the area where his wound was supposed to be but he came in contact with nothing but smooth skin.

"It's gone. The wound… there's nothing there anymore." Yugi said disbelievingly, turning his head around to stare at Yami, who smiled softly at him. "Good." said Yami while standing up and buttoned Yugi's jacket so that the boy wouldn't get the shivers again. Yugi smiled at him before yelping as the door was burst open and Solomon came running in and straight to the bed.

"Oh, my boy. I almost had a heart attack when I heard what happened." he said as he hugged tightly his grandson. "I'm sorry, grandpa. But you see, there's no reason to worry about it anymore. Yami just healed my wound, it's like it never existed in first place." "Really?" Solomon asked shocked. "Yep."

Both he and Solomon turned to look at Yami who was currently scolded Bakura, Marik and Joe for not thinking to lock that damn door. "Yami?" Yami didn't hear the elder one call his name, he just kept yelling about how brainless they were and what would have happened if anyone were to see him using magic. However, Yugi couldn't help but notice that his accusations were mostly heading towards Marik and Bakura, rather than Joe.

The other two hikaris on the other hand, were trying with all the power they could master to sustain their laughter, but by the looks of it, they weren't doing such a good job.

"Pharaoh Atemu!" Solomon called again but this time way much louder. Yami flinched inwardly, momentary being reminded they way Shimon used to call his name when he would daydream during his lessons back in Egypt, the only difference being that the first word was prince and not pharaoh. But nevertheless, it still echoed the same.

"Could you come here for a sec and continue with the yelling afterwards?" Solomon questioned, a tone of playfulness lingering on the last part. "Hey, he doesn't have to fucking continue!" "If you don't like to be shout at, then don't be so reckless about such important matters, thief!" Yami's head turned sharply and he glared at Marik, an obvious sign that he was referring to him as well.

After that, he went and sat besides Yugi on the bed, who curled up into his lap with a swift move, making Yami chuckle at his cheerfulness. "I don't know how to thank you for what you did for Yugi, Yami." The former ruler shook his head. "There's no need to thank me, grandpa. I would have done it sooner, but I admit that I was scared of the consequence it might had. As the light half, it's only natural for him to oppose everything that's opposite of his nature. It's no different for my powers since it is dark magic that I use. But then I realized that since our souls are connected, my powers would never hurt him."

Solomon nodded, understanding Yami's motivation and the risk he was taking by using his powers on Yugi. "I see. Well, nevertheless, I'm glad you did it. But I still don't understand why you had to do it. I mean, what happened in the first place?" Yami sighed mentally. Solomon was asking about Yugi's injury, he had hoped that they would avoid the subject, for Yugi's sake at least. Being reminded of the incident over and over again, wasn't helping in the slightest.

No, Yugi shouldn't hear about it again. Turning his gaze towards the window for a moment, a smirk crept over his face at the sight that met him, an idea popping into his mind. "Hey Aibou, did you notice it's raining?" Yugi's eyes instantly lit up. "Really?" Turning around sharply, Yugi couldn't help but smile when he saw the raindrops pouring from the sky.

"Joe, why don't you take Yugi to the window and watch the rain for a while. You'll be surprised at the variety of patterns he can make up by the lightning." Joe gave Yami a look that was clearly questioning the ancient king's sanity. Yami smacked his forehead at the other's clueless. Joe could really be so thick at times. Lowering his hand, Yami gave him a look that didn't leave room for farther questioning. Joe rubbed the back of his head sheepishly before taking hold of Yugi's hand. "Come on, pal."

Yugi didn't have to be told twice, he jumped out of the bed and nearly dragged Joe to the window. Solomon laughed at his grandson's childish actions and turned his attention back to Yami. "So… I'm all ears." Yami breathed a deep sigh and started narrating to the old man everything that happened but let out the event with the security guards.

"That Ushio guy went way too far this time. He used to bully not only Yugi but Ryu and Malik as well. I thought that he had come back to his senses and stopped, but apparently I was mistaken. I know it's harsh, but he was really asking for it." Yami's fist clenched in anger, his eyebrows furrowed. "He deserved more than he got grandpa, but at the time, I didn't have time. I tried to call you though when we got here but you didn't answer." "I had gone to take some new packets of Duel Monsters cards and when I got home I received the call from Joe, and then I came here." Yami nodded. "Yes, that makes sense."

\Yami?\

\\Yes, Aibou?\\

\Um… did you finish? Not that I'm in a hurry, but it's just that the t-thunders have started and it's a l-little… Um… you know…\

Realizing what the problem was, Yami sent him a mental nod. \\Yes, we've finished. You can come whenever you want, little one.\\

Not even three seconds had passed and Yugi came back and jumped on the bed while Joe stood besides them. Yugi flashed Solomon a warm smile before covering Yami's lower body, since his dark was sitting, and himself with the bed sheets. He mumbled something about stupid thunders as he snuggled closer to Yami, not even his hair was visible from under the covers. The other three laughed and Yami patted the spot where his friend's head was supposed to be.

"FOR RA'S SAKE! WILL YOU TWO STOP WITH YOUR DAMN LAUGHING?" Yugi popped his head out curiously, while Yami, Joe and Solomon turned to the source of the shout only to see two very, very, irritated Marik and Bakura standing with arms folded, standing above two very flushed hikaris who were currently sprawled on the floor, laughing their hearts out.

"S-sorry Kura, but we can't h-help it." "If only you c-could see the faces you t-two were making w-when Yami was yelling at y-you…" Bakura and Marik smirked to each other and approached the two teens slowly. "So… you think it was funny, little lights?" Marik questioned in mischievous and sinister tone. Within an instant, they had both leapt down and started tickling the two lights mercilessly, who only laughed even harder. Yami face palmed while Yugi and Joe looked at each other before bursting out laughing. Solomon on the hand, was just watching the scene that played before him with an amused expression.

\You know, even though they won't admit it, Malik and Ryu _are_ happy.\ Yugi said and rested his head on Yami's chest, closing his eyes with a content sigh.

Yami smiled and caressed the boy's hair. \\Aibou, those idiots are tickling them. Laughing is the most natural reaction.\\

\I'm not saying that they're happy at the moment, Yami. I meant generally.\

\\What? But, how would you know?\\

\Because I know them. Trust me on this one. They may not say it out loud, but only because they don't want their darks to think too highly of themselves.\

Yami snorted mentally. \\Don't they already?\\

\Says the all mighty and powerful pharaoh.\

\\Exactly... Hey!\\

Yugi giggled, earning two confused looks from his grandfather and Joe. "Hilarious, little one. Truly hilarious." Yami commented bitterly and shook his head, but except from that, he didn't make any moves to shove Yugi off of him. "Yep, it was." Yugi answered back with yet another giggle, earning a grunt from Yami.

"Guys, stop talking trough the mind link. We have no clue what is going on." Joe said and put his hands on his waist. "Sorry, Joe. It seems that I offended his Majesty a little." Yami growled at the ironic tone and Yugi stuck out his tongue at him. Solomon laughed at the display, attracting the attention of both teens. "It's so wonderful to see that you're feeling much better, my boy. So, how was the rest of the day?"

"Well, except from the fact that out of nowhere I obtained a brother and a cousin, it went pretty smoothly." "Excuse me?" his grandpa asked with a puzzled expression. Yugi tilted his head up to stare at Yami. "You didn't tell him?" "Well, I was saving this one for you." Yugi pouted at him before turning back to Solomon. "Um… I've got some… news, to tell you, grandpa." "Oh, just wait to hear it, gramps. It's plainly unbelievable." Joe said and laughed lightly. "Do you mean something by that, Joe?" Yami glared at him and the blonde was quick to shake his head.

"Me? Never. Um… I'm going to try and save Ryu and Malik from those two psychos." With that he hurried over to the other side of the room where Bakura and Marik were still torturing the poor teens. "Now, about the news, my boy?" "Yeah… You see grandpa, every time a new student comes to class, they have to introduce themselves. So, when Yami, Bakura and Marik did the same, except from their names they decided to say they're Ryu, Malik and my, brothers." "Hm… is that so?" Solomon said mostly to himself rather that the other two. After a moment of thinking, he shrugged his shoulders. "And?"

"Wait. You mean you don't have a problem with it?" Yugi asked astonished. "Why should I? If you're ok with it, then I don't mind at all. But where did the 'cousin' thing come from?" Yami rubbed the back of his head with a sheepish smile. "Well, I kind of said that Kaiba is my cousin." "Oh, God. And to think that this was only the first day of school with the six of you." (the three hikaris and the three yamis)

"Pharaoh?" Yami turned his head around and smirked when he saw who it was. "Well, well. You decided to stop tormenting your lights?" "Yeah, damn that fucking need for air." Yami rolled his eyes. "Oh, please. What do you want, Marik?" "What you did before with the shadows…" A mischievous grin pulled at the corners of Yami's mouth. "Now that I've got my memories back, I know how to use the powers of my Millennium Puzzle to their full extent. And it's like you've said in Battle City. They really are boundless. But unfortunately for you both," Yami said and moved his gaze over to Bakura who just joined the conversation, "there's no way I'm letting you get your claws on them, or my Puzzle that is."

The other two chuckled and held out their own items. "There's no need to take your puzzle anymore, pharaoh. Because, just to let you know, our powers have upgraded as well." Bakura said with a smirk. "I'm already aware of that, thief, but there's no reason to sweat over it. After all, my powers are still superior than yours." That caused Yugi to chuckle. "How modest of you, Mou Hitori No Bokou." he said, earning a shrug from Yami. "We could overpower you any damn time you want." Marik hissed at him, but Yami paid him no mind. "I would like to see you trying." Their response was cut off since that moment the doctor came into the room. Yugi's eyes widened and he immediately buried himself back under the covers. 'Oh, no! What are we going to tell the doctor?'

Even the thought that they would be caught sent shivers up his spine, but fortunately, the doctor was dealing with Solomon right now. "You must be their grandfather, right?" "Yes, I'm Solomon Mutou. Thank you for helping my grandson, doctor." "No need to thank me, sir." As the conversation went on, Yugi was becoming more and more nervous by each passing second. A pair of arms were wrapped around his waist and gently pulled him closer to another body.

\\Aibou, what's wrong?\\

\Y-Yami… He will f-find out.\

Yami rubbed Yugi's back with slow and smooth moves to calm him down. \\Shh, it's gonna be ok, little one.\\ Their friends must have realized that too because they were looking at them with horrifying expressions, but what caught Yami's attention was the smirks that were plastered on the other two darks' faces. Catching the meaning, he did his best to hide his own smirk. "So, it's time to change his bandages." Yugi tightened his grip in Yami's shirt and tried to make himself invisible from inside the covers. "Is your brother alright?" "He's fine, just a little scared of the thunders, that's all." "Well, could you tell him to come out? We've got work to do." Yami nodded and patted Yugi's back as a sign for him to come out.

\Yami, what are you doing?\

\\Don't worry, it'll be fine, I promise.\\

\I-If you say so.\

Yugi lowered the sheets but to the point they reached only his neck. "Good. Now let's see how that wound of yours is going." The doctor stepped closer to the bed, but the moment he turned his back to Marik and Bakura, was his biggest mistake. With a swift move, Marik pulled out his Millennium Rod and pointed it towards the unsuspected man. Malik, understanding what his dark side was up to, ran towards him but was stopped by Bakura. "MIND CONTROL!" Marik shouted and immediately the Sennen eye appeared on the doctor's forehead, sign that he was now under Marik's control. "Phew! That was close." Bakura said as he let go of Malik. "Marik, you liar!" Malik shouted to his dark.

Ryu was about to back up his friend in the scolding but didn't get the chance as a hand was clasped over his mouth, preventing him from uttering a single word. Another hand wrapped itself around his waist, pulling him backwards and against a firm chest. "I think you should stay out of this, hikari." Bakura whispered into his ear. He moved and sat at the edge of the bed and pulled Ryu into his lap. The white-haired light made something that sounded like a pout and crossed his arms over his chest. Meanwhile, as Malik and Marik were arguing with each other, Yugi and Joe were trying to explain to a dazed Solomon what happened and Yami was starting to develop a headache. "MALIK! MARIK! Both of you ZIP IT!" Yami shouted, not able to contain his temper anymore from the loud conflict.

The result was immediate as they both stopped yelling and turned to stare at him. Yami took a deep breath and sighed. "Sorry about that but you were getting seriously loud." He rubbed his temple before continuing, "Malik, I know what you're thinking, but that was necessary. The doctor would have seen that the wounds were healed and I believe we'd have a little bit of trouble explaining that." he said as he turned to look at Ryu to show what he was saying was for him to hear too only to arch an eyebrow at the scene. "Bakura, could you let go of your hikari?" "Hey, I'm not telling you what to do with your light!" Bakura tightened his grip on Ryu to show his point. "At least unclasp his mouth, for Ra's sake!" Bakura growled but removed his hand from the boy's mouth who immediately took in deep gulps of air. "Kura, can I go now? They aren't arguing anymore."

"Why my little hikari, don't you like it here?" Bakura said with a smirk. "KURA!" Ryu turned at least ten shades of red causing the others to laugh. Hearing Bakura's words, Marik smirked as he sat next to the albinos and pulled Malik into his lap earning a yelp from him. "Pft, jealous freak." Bakura hissed. Marik glared at him and stuck out his tongue before nuzzling Malik's neck. "Ok, who the heck are you and what have you done to the real Marik?" Marik just grunted but he kept nuzzling the other. "Seems like you two are comfy enough." Joe commented and winked at them. "JOE!" both Ryu and Malik shouted at the same time while Malik even leapt from his dark's lap and started an argument with the blonde.

Ryu sighed and shook his head. However, to Yugi, none of this mattered as the room started spinning, he rubbed his forehead to soothe his dizziness. "Aibou?" "My world is spinning a little…" Yami smiled softly at his light and petted his hair lightly. "Don't worry. The shadow magic must have worn you out, you just need rest." Yami turned back to the others only to find Joe and Malik still caught up in their conflict while Ryu was trying to reason with them. Growling in annoyance, he stood up and whistled loudly.

"Sorry for interrupting that wonderful moment, but I believe we have some important things to do." "And what would that be, your highness?" "That, tomb robber, would be the doctor and that Yugi needs rest." Joe and Malik glared at each other before mumbling an apology. "So, any idea what to do with him?" Marik said as he walked towards the motionless doctor. "Of course, me and Bakura could always find a good use for him." he continued and Bakura nodded enthusiastically. "I don't think so! After all, we need him." "We need him, Yami?" "Yes, Aibou, we do. I thought I told you to get some rest."

Yugi laughed nervously at that but when Yami gave him a serious look, he pouted. "But Yami, I wanna hear too." Yugi whined just like a little child that was refused to eat any candy. Yami let out a sigh and nodded at him. "But you're to stay put on the bed." he warned just as Yugi was about to sit up, so instead of doing so, he laid back down with a groan. "Now, back to our subject." Yami said and pointed the doctor and then at Marik. "I want you to order him to go out there and act normally, but he will tell the others that Yugi is well enough to go home and that he'll be leaving in the morning because he needs to regain his energy first." "Can't we have a little fun first?" Marik shot Yami a pleading look but the latter glared at him to pass his point.

"Damn it, pharaoh! You're no fun!" Bakura hissed at him while crossing his arms. "Aw… Someone seems a little irritated." Malik said in a mocking tone, earning a death glare from Bakura. Marik laughed before pointing his Rod towards the doctor, closing his eyes and reopening them after a moment. The doctor's eyes were still blank as he made a small bow and left. "Yami, why does Yugi have to stay here for tonight?" Solomon asked, earning a sigh from Yami. "It's for his own good, grandpa. I don't think it would be wise to move him before he has regained his energy first." Solomon seemed quiet thoughtful and hesitant about it. "Grandpa?" The old man looked up when his grandson called his name. "It's ok. If Yami says it is for the best, then I believe him. You go home and rest, I'll be just fine." "Who said I'm leaving you on your own?" Yugi turned to look at the source of the voice, a wide smile on his face. "That's why I said I'll be fine."

Solomon stared at them both before letting out a small chuckle. "If you two say so, then who am I to defy you?" They nodded at him with a smile before Yami turned his attention to the other occupants of the room. "You guys better go and get some rest as well, we'll see you tomorrow at school." "But Yami… Now that you said school…" Yugi said, causing his dark to look back at him. "We'll need the necessary books for tomorrow, as well as clean clothes." Yami let out a groan at that. "I forgot about that. Well, I can go get our stuff and then come back here." Yugi was about to protest with that plan, but Ryu beat him to it. "I've got a better idea! Bakura and I can go to the Game Shop tomorrow, get your stuff, bring them here and then we can leave together for school."

"WHAT THE…-" Bakura started but was cut off by Yugi's joyful yelp as he jumped from the bed and embraced Ryu tightly. "Thanks, Ryu. But are you sure it's ok?" Ryu gave him a reassuring smile. "It's perfectly fine. My house is the closest to yours, so it's not inconvenient at all." Yugi smiled at him and went back to the bed.

\\Hikari, are you fucking MAD?\\

\Oh, come on, Kura. Don't be so lazy.\

\\THERE'S NO FUCKING WAY I'M WAKING UP THAT EARLY!\\

Ryu flinched at the loud tone and he rubbed his head to smooth the pain.\You don't have to yell so loudly in my head, you know.\

\\Fine, if you don't want me to yell in your head.\\ Bakura replied with a smirk before he started yelling out aloud. "THERE'S NO WAY I'M WAKING UP THAT EARLY!" Ryu immediately stopped rubbing his head and covered tightly his ears. "When I said that you don't have to yell so loudly in my head, I didn't mean that you should start yelling in my ear instead." Marik, after witnessing Bakura's outburst, burst out laughing. The white-haired dark growled dangerously low in his throat. "SHUT UP!" Marik tried to restrain his laughs and after a good few minutes, eventually did it.

"Now Kura, come on." "No, Ryu. I can hardly even wake at the necessary hour, so there's no way in hell I'm waking earlier than that!" 'Well, at least now he's calmed down a bit. Hmm, I think it's time for immediate actions.' Ryu though as he figured out a way to convince his stubborn yami. "Pleeeeeease, Kura! For meeeee…?" Ryu whined as he gave Bakura his best puppy-dog eyes look. "Poor Bakura. Ryu and Yugi are the masters of that look. He's a goner now." Malik whispered sympathetically.

Bakura's eyes widened and he shook his head firmly, but as Ryu kept giving him that look, the only thing he could do was give in. He groaned and covered Ryu's eyes with his hand. "FINE! But you better have prepared breakfast by the time I wake up!" Ryu nodded his vigorously and Bakura removed his hand with a sigh. That was more than enough to make Marik's uncontrollable laughter from before return with double force, but the others weren't in a better position as they were finding it really hard to stop their own giggles. Yami cleared his throat and Bakura glared at him, daring him to make a comment and carry out the consequences that were sure to follow with it.

Yami chuckled, taking some pity for the other dark. "Don't worry. I was just going to say that since it's settled, you should all go and get some rest." Bakura raised an eyebrow at that, not really believing that the royal jackass would let the chance to humiliate him slip away. They were distracted however, by the sound of hysteric laughter. When Bakura saw that Marik was the source of it, his whole being started glowing with dark aura. "WILL YOU EVER SHUT IT?" When his answer was an even louder wave of laughter, his eyes narrowed. "Don't say I didn't warn you!"

He raised his right arm and a ball of dark energy appeared on his palm. He threw it towards Marik, who hadn't even noticed what was going on, and it would have hit him if Yami hadn't respond with a ball of his own. He stood in front of Marik and stared at Bakura with an unreadable expression. "Firstly, I told you no shadow fighting inside the hospital. And secondly, I don't think that's pretty fair, especially since he can't even respond, thief." Bakura let out a growl and let his shadow magic fade away. "Why don't you just let me kill him?" he shouted angrily as he glared harshly at Marik.

Yami only shook his head in negativity and turned back to the others, who staring at the three of them with a puzzled expression, making him chuckle at the sight. "Malik, could you do something with him, because I don't think he's helping Bakura to calm down." "But what can I …-" Malik paused for a moment, an idea forming in his mind and he grinned.

\Marik, remember all those chores that Ishizu wanted to make you do at weekend but I managed to persuade her otherwise? I think that I might not stop her this time.\

Marik's laughter immediately came to a halt and he stared at his light with wide eyes and a horrified expression. "Don't. You. Dare." he said, emphasizing each word quiet passionately. Malik kept grinning as he looked back at the others who were staring at him in awe, even Bakura was blinking. "What did you tell him?" Joe asked in bewilderment, but Malik only waved his hands in dismissal, not giving any farther explanation. "Right… Now, could you all just GO? Yugi needs a lot of sleep and it's already late."

"Sleep doesn't sound bad, especially with the time I have to wake up." Bakura said and left the room, dragging Ryu by the hand along. Ryu managed to say a quick 'goodnight' before he was dragged off by his yami. Marik picked Malik up and tossed him over his shoulder, earning a surprised yelp from the other. "Marik, you IDIOT! Put me down NOW!" Malik shouted as he pounded at his dark's back, but didn't get any successful results, since Marik plainly ignored him and exited the room, Malik's shouts echoing down the hallway.

Joe chuckled and ruffled Yugi's hair, his own way to say goodbye. "I'll see you two tomorrow." Both tri-colored haired teens bid him goodnight before he waved back at them and left. Solomon sighed and looked at Yugi, smiling when his grandson yawned cutely. "I better get going too." He kissed Yugi on the forehead and gave Yami a hug before leaving as well. Yami settled himself on a chair next to Yugi's bed and rubbed his forehead. "Yami?" He glanced up at the sound of the voice only to be met with worried amethyst staring at him. "Are you ok, Yami?" He couldn't help but smile warmly, touched by the little one's worry. "I'm fine. It seems we both need a little rest."

Yugi nodded before yawning again, making Yami chuckle. He stood up and gently tucked Yugi in. "Sleep well, my little light." He petted the boy's hair until the smaller teen fell asleep. The corner of his lips pulled into a soft smile at how cute the boy looked while sleeping, his pale skin glowing in the moonlight. He glanced down and saw that his own skin was giving off the same reaction. Strange, but when the Gods gave him his own body in order to duel with Yugi, he expected it would be the one he had in Egypt but instead they gave him the one he had when switching with Yugi.

'Perhaps they wanted to make it more difficult for us. But then again, they gave Bakura the body he had when switching with Ryu as well. Could it be that they wanted us to make a new start and that's why they didn't give us our previous bodies? Because they would bring back old memories?' He shook his head to clear his thoughts and sat back down on the chair. He glanced one time around the room to make sure that everything was alright and only then he allowed sleep to claim him.

**Wow, that chapter was pretty big. I'm sorry if I tired you. The next will be shorter, don't worry. **

**(1)That shortcut was a magic portal, it will be mentioned in future chapters too. **

**Also, for those of you who haven't noticed yet, in this story Yugi, Ryu and Malik were friends before they met with Joe and the others. As for how they met, that will be explained in future chapters. **


	15. Stormy night

**Next chapter is up!**

During the night, the rain had turned into a windy storm with heavy rain and lots of loud thunders. A 'BANG' caused Yugi to wake up quiet roughly as well as shot out of the bed in a lightning speed. 'Oh, no. Not now.' Yugi thought desperately as he covered his ears in an attempt to block some of the noise. His first thought was to look for his dark.

Turning around, he spotted Yami sitting on the chair next to his bed, arms and legs crossed and his eyes closed. Anyone would think that he was just deep in thought but Yugi knew better. 'But, should I wake him?' Another 'BANG' made him yelp unwittingly, and of course, snapped Yami out of his slumber. His eyes, already used to infinite darkness thanks to his Puzzle, adjusted in less than a few seconds and instantly he spotted Yugi's shaking form.

"Aibou, what's…-" Before he had time to finish his question, another 'BANG' echoed throughout the room and the instant it went off, he found his arms full of Yugi. Yami chuckled lightly as he picked Yugi up and laid him gently on the bed before climbing on the bed himself. Yugi quickly covered them both with the bed sheets before hugging Yami tightly and burying his face in the other's chest.

Yami wrapped his arms around Yugi's frame and pulled him closer. The teen smiled at him and hid his face in his dark's shirt. Yami let out another chuckle and started rubbing Yugi's back soothingly and gently. As another thunder went off, Yugi sobbed and tightened his grip. "Shh, it's alright, Aibou. I'm here for you, it's alright." he said softly and embraced his charge tighter, protectively and securely.

A few minutes later, Yugi seemed to calm down quiet a bit and Yami continued whispering soothing words at him through their link until Yugi finally fell asleep. Yami kept holding him protectively in his arms while petting softly the little one's hair. "I will never leave you alone. Ever." he whispered and felt Yugi snuggling closer to him.

He turned his gaze out of the window and watched the fat raindrops pound harshly against it as well as the shapes that were formed all over the dark sky by the lightning. It had become quiet obvious to him by now that his light was terribly terrified of the storms. He may loved the rain dearly, but the thunders and the lightning that went along with the storms, was a different subject.

Ironic wasn't it? While Yugi disliked storms whole heartedly, Yami was finding them rather impressive and worth watching. They never had storms in Egypt, in fact, it rarely even rained. So, Yami thought of them as a sight to be seen.

He was quiet fond of them. He was quiet intrigued by all those peculiar shapes that were formed by the lightning. When most of people were finding storms, dark and scary things, Yami was finding them marvelous.

He stared down at the boy clinging tightly to him even while he was sleeping, his black eyebrows furrowed slightly in a cute little frown. A small smile pulled at the corners of Yami's lips. He stroked Yugi's hair gently, so as not wake him, and then removed a golden bang from his partner's cherubic face.

Attracted to completely different things, and yet… their bond couldn't be any stronger. Yugi liked the things that Yami despised. Yami liked the things that Yugi despised. They made up for the other's weakness, and together, those opposite things created one whole soul. Confusing and yet so right.

Yami planted a soft kiss in Yugi's hair. 'Sleep well, my little light. Sleep well.' A few moments later, Yami also drifted off into sleep.


End file.
